This is a classic corrugated plate by Richard Zane Smith. It is coil-built and the front has corrugated swirls and the back is polished red. The coils on the front are left exposed and they swirl around from the center to the rim.  The colors are various clay slips that are applied before the piece is fired. There is a clay part that extends up from the center and that holds the stone dragonfly. The dragonfly is made from serpentine (body) and mother of pearl (wings).  The rim of the plate is also fully polished.  The piece is entitled on the back, “Creator have Mercy, Please send the rains”.  It is signed, “Richard Zane Smith” and dated 2000.  It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.  

“The 1980s was a period of encouraged experimentation where an artist could work with one foot in traditional ways and traditional roots and the other out there probing into the future. A fascinating era of arts rooted in tradition but also expanding all over. When there seemed to be some interest I thought I’d start by keeping close to the old pueblo style of corrugated pottery. I started doing some imitation work but inevitably kept adding my own thing. In the beginning, they were just the clay color and I was doing design indention with my fingernail. Then I thought I would add another clay color, so I started adding slip and painting certain areas. Then, why not two clay colors? It wasn’t long and I started seeing that I could develop 3-D patterns. I could mix my slips in graduating shades. Once that happened it opened the door, and everything was 3-D. First, they were geometric, and then it was curvy geometric shapes which became a signature for years.”  Richard Zane Smith, Spoken Through Clay