This is a classic corrugated plate by Richard Zane Smith. It is coil-built, and the front has corrugated swirls that emanate out from the center.  The swirling coils seems to overlap and twist as they extend to the rim.  The coils are painted with various colors of clay before the piece is fired. There is a clay part that extends up from the center and that holds the wood dragonfly. The dragonfly was carved by Richard.  The rim of the plate is polished while the back is matte.  It is one of a series of pieces he made with the dragonfly fetish in the center.  It is signed, “Richard Zane Smith” and dated 1999.  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

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Zane Smith, Richard (b. 1955)

Richard Zane Smith

Richard Zane Smith was born in Georgia and grew up in St. Louis, Missouri; he has a degree from the Kansas City Art Institute, where he studied ceramics. As a young man, he taught at a Navajo mission school, where he was exposed to native clay and Ancient Pueblo pottery.  These remnants and their coiled construction, as well as his Wyandot heritage, are what continue to inspire his work to this day. Richard Zane Smith's works can be found in museums nationwide and featured in numerous exhibits, including the Heard Museum's exhibit, "Breaking the Surface," the Philbrook Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the San Diego Museum of Man, and the Denver Art Museum.   Richard's work has been featured in numerous books and magazine articles, including "The Art of Clay." His corrugated basket style designs are similar to pre-historic corrugated pottery, but using delicate lines, coils, and colors in each layer, makes his pottery resemble Wyandot basketry.  He continues to work on breathing life into recreating his interpretations and presents each work with a naturalistic style, shape, and design story.