Yvonne Lucas learned to make pottery from her husband, Steve Lucas and his aunt, Dextra Qutoskuyva.  She is one of the few Laguna potters who use all traditional materials and traditionally fires their pottery.  The jar is slipped with a white clay and then painted with a red clay slip and bee-weed (for the black). The design has a leaf pattern around the neck and in the central diamond-shaped medallions.  Separating the medallions are rainbow bands which are polished red.  The designs are a striking flow of round and linear patterns.  The contrast of the red and black on the white works perfectly for this size.  The jar is traditionally fired outdoors, so there are blushes on the surface creating the slightly tan areas.  The jar is thin-walled and perfectly shaped.  Yvonne focuses on the black-on-red coloration, as that was a style seen at Laguna Pueblo around 1900.  This is Yvonne’s way of paying tribute to these pieces but also giving it her own modern style.  The jar is signed on the bottom in the clay.

Garrett Maho is known for his traditional and innovative Hopi-Tewa pottery.  This bowl has four birds in a swirling or tumbling motion around the top of the piece.  They are painted with a deep red clay slip as well as the black which is painted with bee-weed (a plant).  The bowl has been traditionally fired so that there are blushes on the surface.  The piece is signed on the bottom in the clay.

This is an exceptional jar by Priscialla Namingha Nampeyo.  She was a great-granddaughter of Nampeyo of Hano and granddaughter of Annie Healing,  She was also a sister of Dextra Quotskuyva Nampeyo. Priscilla was the matriarch of a family of renown potters, including Rachel, Bonnie, Nyla and Jean Sahmie.  Priscilla began making pottery when she was only seven years old, under the guidance of Nampeyo of Hano. This jar is thin walled and painted with the classic migration pattern.  It is one of those pieces that captures the essence of her pottery skill with very thin lines and a design which matches the shape.  Priscilla was known for her traditional work and this jar is simply one of her best.  It was traditionally fired and so it has blushes across the surface.  It is signed on the bottom “Priscilla Namingha Nampeyo”.  It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.

This is an extraordinary large plate by Maria Martinez and her husband, Julian.  Maria would make the pottery and Julian would paint the design.  The unique aspects of this piece are the size and the design.  Many of their early plates were under 12″ diameter, as they were less likely to break in the firing.  As well, this design is one which is an early pattern and one which was very rarely used in their pottery.  The design is a series of three San Ildefonso birds.  The heads are near the rim and the wings are extending backwards with the triangle in the center making up their legs.  However, as a whole pattern, it has a beautiful flow and dynamic appearance.  The “wings” on this piece are a design which in Richard Spivey’s book, “The Legacy of Maria Poveka Martinez”, it is identified as an “avanyu” (see last photo).  However, I spoke at length with a San Ildefonso potter about this particular design and he explained how it was a bird and that it is a design often seen around the Pueblo.  To have his input gives an important addition of cultural knowledge about these pieces!  As for the plate, it is in good condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.  There are some light surface scratches which are not unexpected in a piece from this time period.  The plate is signed on the back in the clay, “Marie + Julian”.  In terms of the photos, I tried to take them at different angles and different lighting to reveal both design and condition.  The curve of the plate makes it difficult but I think if you view the various photos it is possible to have a good idea of the overall condition.   This is definitely one of those exciting pieces by Maria & Julian Martinez which rarely come around to the marketplace!

To learn more about Maria’s signatures, click here.

Jody Folwell is known for her creative pottery shapes and designs.  This is a classic style for her pottery with a fully polished surface and the asymmetrical mouth.  The rim of the mouth extends down to the shoulder and it is fully polished. The designs are etched into the surface of the clay and various etching techniques are used to create the coloration.  The corn plant pattern is the main imagery and it is surrounded by cloud, rain and Pueblo designs.  The various colorations from black to dark red are all from the traditional outdoor firing.  The bowl is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Jody”.

Garrett Maho is known for his traditional and innovative Hopi-Tewa pottery.  This bowl has an unusual raven design.  There are two of the birds and they are painted on both sides of the piece. The deep red is an additional clay slip while the black is painted with bee-weed (a plant).  The bowl has been traditionally fired so that there are blushes on the surface.  The piece is signed on the bottom in the clay.

This is a very powerful piece from Diego Romero.  The title of the bowl is “Fallen Angel” and is one of the pieces Diego has created over the years touching on the impact of addiction.  The painting is exceptional with a very simple figure and a very impactful statement created.  The bowl itself has the flared rim and two bands of intricately painted designs.  Diego was one of the potters around 1990 to break away from more classic shapes and styles of pottery. He returned to a pre-contact style of Mimbres culture (1100’s in southwest New Mexico) and was inspired by the open bowl shape. This has been his “canvas” throughout most of his career. The imagery evolves, changes and tells a narrative of his life and interests. It is signed on the rim, “Chongo Made Me, Chongo Painted Me”.  The bowl is in perfect condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.

Click here to read more about Diego’s Imagery!

Diego Romero was one of the potters around 1990 to break away from more classic  styles of Pueblo pottery. He returned to a pre-contact style of Mimbres culture (1100's in southwest New Mexico) and was inspired by the open bowl shape. This has been his “canvas” throughout most of his career.  However, he has also created a few vessels over time, which are also based on ancient shapes. This jar has a classic Chaco period form with the round body and elongated neck. The design here is derived from his Chongo character, who populates much of the iconography of his pottery.  Here, Chongo is out at night among giant Chongo heads, much like at Easter Island.  Here Chongo is standing among them with coyote in the background.  Note the stars at night, and maybe even a UFO!?   It is signed on the bottom, “Chongo Made Me, Chongo Painted Me”.  The bowl is in perfect condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.  The jar has a round base, so we had a metal museum mount made for it to sit on, which gives it a very modern appearance!

Click here to read more about Diego's Imagery!

Click here to read more about Diego's Imagery!

Shana Garcia is known for her creative shaped and sculptural rim pottery.   Each piece is coil built and painted with yucca to create the long thin lines.  This tall jar has a lightning design which spirals up to the rim. The rim is sculpted with additional clay to create the bird wing pattern and additional yucca and rain patterns.  Shana said the shape of the rim is meant to represent the birds over the kivas.  It is striking how she is able to combine such traditional imagery with such a modern appearance!

This is an exceptional jar by Paul Naranjo.  It is fully polished to a glassy surface.  Honestly, one of the toughest pieces to photograph!  However, the polish is amazing and the entire surface of the jar is fully polished!  There are two maidens in traditional dress and they are separated by an eagle head.  There is a water serpent in the background, which is a designs often used by Paul on the background of his pieces.  Along the neck and the base are kiva step designs, and there are plant patterns around the base as well.  Paul fired his pottery a dark, chocolate color, for which he was well known. His pieces can be seen in the “Beyond Traditions” book by Jerry Jacka.  The jar has unique color variations in the brown which further enhance the designs.  The jar is signed on the bottom in the clay.   It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.  The jar also won a ribbon at the 1987 Gallup Ceremonials, which adds to its important provenance.

Susan “Snowflake” Romero’s pottery is highly polished and intricately etched with detailed imagery.  She learned to make pottery from her father, Joseph Lonewolf. This seedpot has a realistic eagle etched into the surface on the top.  Surrounding the eagle is a Mimbres style eagle head (above the beak) and note the incised basket weave lines as well.  For such small pieces, Susan is able to create amazingly complex designs using various depths of the clay. This is actually a larger sized piece of her pottery!  It is in perfect condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair and signed on the bottom.

This Zuni carving by Lena Boone is made from glass.  The mountain lion is traditional in shape and has an arrowhead bundle on its back.  The glass is a clear, white and pink coloration.

This Zuni carving by Daphne Quam is made from glass.  The mountain lion is traditional in shape and has an arrowhead bundle on its back.  The glass has a green, blue, yellow and clear coloration.

This Zuni carving by Daphne Quam is made from glass.  The beaver is traditional in shape and has an arrowhead bundle on its back.  The glass has a green, blue, yellow and clear coloration.

This Zuni carving by Daphne Quam is made from glass.  The badger is traditional in shape and has an arrowhead bundle on its back.  The glass has a green, blue and clear coloration.

This Zuni carving by Daphne Quam is made from azurite.  The eagle is traditional in shape and has an arrowhead bundle on its back.  The azurite has a deep blue coloration with specs of green.

This Zuni carving by Daphne Quam is made from glass.  This fox is traditional in shape and has an arrowhead bundle on its back. The glass is a opaque blue coloration.

This Zuni carving by Herbert Pincion is carved from spotted travertine.  It is a highly detailed carving with a mare and sitting foal.  For the size, it is wonderfully detailed!

Vickie Quandelacy is a sister of Stuart Quandelacy and daughter of Dickie and Amy Quandelacy.  She is known for her complex design of corn maidens.  This corn maiden is carved out of green snail shell.  She has captured the shape of the shell and etched the corn design and dragonflies in as the design.  The back has the etched hair and more dragonflies.  The piece is set onto a piece of turquoise.  The opalescene of the shell is striking on this piece!

Rose Williams (1915-2015) wass one of the great matriarchs of Navajo pottery.  Shew as from the Shonto/Cow Springs area of the Navajo Reservation.  Rose was an adult when she learned to make pottery, but continued doing so for over three decades.  Her children, Alice Cling, Sue Ann Williams, and Susie Williams Crank, and her daughter-in-law, Lorraine Williams, are all recognized potters.  The Lók’aa’dine’é Clan (Reed People) in the Shonto/Cow Springs area has long been recognized for its pottery making, and many of the present-day potters or their spouses—Silas Claw, Faye Tso, Rose Williams, and Alice Cling—are members of this clan.  This is an exceptionally large piece of her pottery in collaboration with her daughter, Susie Willams Crank.  It is fully polished and traditionally fired.  The shape is based on traditional Navajo pottery with the low shoulder.  Around the rim is a raised relief mountain design. The jar is traditionally fired and afterwords covered in pine pitch.  This was a traditional method historically to make the pottery water-proof. Today, potters continue this process as a testament to the past. The jar is signed on the bottom in the clay by both potters.

Calvin Analla learned to  make pottery from his sister, Yvonne Lucas and her husband, Steve Lucas.  This large water jar is thin walled and made with the traditional red clay from Laguna Pueblo. The jar is painted with bee-weed, into which he has mixed some mica.  The mica makes reflections in the clay.  Calvin is known for his very delicately painted designs.  This jar has cloud designs above the shoulder and plant designs below.  The thin lines painted with the bee-weed show create a striking contrast with the red clay.  It is signed on the bottom.

Spoken Through Clay

A NEW  RELEASE SPECIAL:  $95.00, including shipping (US)! Check out the new review in the Denver Post!

 Just a few things which make this book unique!

*   The size!  The book is 11.75″ x 14.25″ and weights over 8 pounds!
*  The photography of the pottery is stunning, emphasizing the individual pieces.
*  Each caption is the artist discussing the individual piece on the page.
*  The artist “biographies” are from interviews with the artists and they discuss their art, culture, lives and history.
*  Organization: The book is not organized by pueblo or family, but entails new ways to think about the future of Native pottery.
*  Printing in Italy gives the book very high quality color and paper.
* The photos of the living artists were taken by Will Wilson using a tin-type process. He was a recipient of the 2107 New Mexico Governor’s Award for the Arts in photography!
*  The book features work by more than 30 contemporary potters and more than a dozen important historic potters.
*  There are essays by myself, Peter Held and Eric Dobkin.  They add to the overall understanding of the project a historic perspective.

_____________________________________________

August 18, Pasatiempo Review

“Charles S. King’s new book, Spoken Through Clay: Native Pottery in the Southwest, The Eric S. Dobkin Collection, is spectacularly heavy —which is a problem from a practical standpoint, because once you open it, you won’t want to put it down. With dreamy tintype artist portraits by Diné photographer Will Wilson, dazzlingly crisp images from Addison Doty, and intimate first-person essays written by dozens of artists, the book is a visually delicious, intellectually consuming foray into historic and contemporary Southwestern pottery. In short, prepare to swoon.

“It’s one of the things that makes us who we are. It’s what holds our family together. We are a family of potters. It’s our identity. People don’t realize how much work goes into it just processing the clay and making it. You have to do it with your heart.”—Linda Tafoya-Sanchez

FEATURED ARTISTS Grace Medicine Flower • Dextra Quotskuyva • Autumn Borts-Medlock • Jody Naranjo • Harrison Begay Jr. • Jordan Roller • Sara Fina Tafoya • Lonnie Vigil • Margaret Tafoya • Steve Lucas • LuAnn Tafoya • Loren Ami • Toni Roller • Popovi Da • Linda Tafoya-Sanchez • Mark Tahbo • James Ebelacker• Yvonne Lucas • Jeff Roller • Lisa Holt • Harlan Reano • Nampeyo • Jacquie Stevens • Nathan Youngblood • Jacob Koopee Jr. • Jennifer Moquino • Christopher Youngblood • Maria Martinez • Tony Da • Tammy Garcia • Virgil Ortiz • Joseph Lonewolf • Johnathan Naranjo • Nancy Youngblood • Les Namingha • Russell Sanchez • Christine McHorse • Richard Zane Smith • Rondina Huma • Susan Folwell • Dominique Toya • Jody Folwell

Spoken Through Clay features the pottery of iconic Native American artists from historic potters Nampeyo and Maria Martinez, to contemporary potters Tammy Garcia, Virgil Ortiz, and many others, are featured in a new book published by the Museum of New Mexico Press. Spoken Through Clay: Native Pottery of the Southwest showcases nearly three hundred pottery vessels from the acclaimed Eric S. Dobkin Collection, covering a wide range of mostly Pueblo artists from the Southwest.

“The physical scale of the vessels combined with the depth of the contemporary collection [is] breathtaking,” says author Charles S. King. The book is part of a “transitional process of looking to the clay, the vessel, and the potter’s voice and allowing the pieces to stand on the merit of their artistic integrity.”

The book includes portraits and voices of renowned potters speaking about their artistry and technique, families, culture, and traditions. Many of the artists are connected by Pueblos, generations, or family members. Dynamic color photography captures the depth and dimension of the pieces, while the artists provide an illuminating perspective through narrative captions. Artists, academics, collectors, family members, and gallerists add additional insight about the lives, historical context, and importance of these potters and their work.

SPOKEN THROUGH CLAY Native Pottery of the Southwest The Eric S. Dobkin Collection
By Charles S. King Essay by Peter Held

Artist portraits by Will Wilson
ISBN: 978-0-89013-624-9

352 pages, 320 color plates, 40 artist portraits

Publication Date: August 01, 2017
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Charles S. King is the author of Born of Fire: The Life and Pottery of Margaret Tafoya, The Life and Art of Tony Da, Virgil Ortiz: Revolt 1680/2180, and numerous articles on Pueblo pottery. He has served on boards of art associations, judged pottery at prestigious events, and lectures about the art form. His business King Galleries represents many of today’s leading Native potters and important historic works in clay. Charles lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Jody Folwell is known for her creative pottery shapes and designs.  This is a very tall jar and the rim has an asymmetrical form, for which she is known. The jar is polished with a slip which fired a greenish-brown. There are lightning patterns across the surface which are a matte red.  Around the entire jar are a series of etched wolves and buffalo.  Some are etched and some are just painted with a white clay slip.  They are in different directions and different degrees of motion.  The size and coloration with the green, red and white is striking.  The jar is signed on the bottom, “Jody”.  It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.

This Zuni carving is by Freddie Leekya.  The bird is carved from travertine.  There are turquoise inlay for the eyes and on the wings.  The beak is mother of pearl.

This Zuni carving by Rodney Laiwakete is carved from agate. There is a Big Horn Sheep which has an inlaid turquoise and moher -of -pearl heartline.  The bird on the back is also carved from agate.  It is attached as a medicine bundle.

Bernice Naranjo is known for her innovative incised pottery.  This seedpot is fully polished and fired brown.  She has etched a series of lizards on the surface of the piece. Some are placed sitting on the red polished clay and others on fine-line etched sections reminiscent of the sand or pottery shards.  The piece is signed on the bottom.

This seedpot by Dean Haungooah is highly detailed complicated sgraffito designs. The seedpot has a fish on one side and a Tewa sun on the other.  There are additional Mimbres insects along with a pueblo wall.  The etching on the surface is on different levels, creating matte and polished designs. There is a single inset piece of shell bead for the eye of the fish.  The seedpot is from 1993 and it is signed, “Dean Haungooah”.  It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.

Elijah Naranjo learned to make pottery from his mother Dolly Naranjo and sister Jody Naranjo.  He works in a similar style with the sgraffito designs and brown firing. This small seedpot has a Mimbres style lizard on the top.  It is fully polished and there are additional feather designs in the clay. The seedpot is from 2000.  It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.

Diego Romero was one of the potters around 1990 to break away from more classic shapes and styles of pottery. He returned to a pre-contact style of Mimbres culture (1100’s in southwest New Mexico) and was inspired by the open bowl shape. This has been his “canvas” throughout most of his career. The imagery evolves, changes and tells a narrative of his life and interests.  This very intricately painted bowl is entitled, “In the Beginning“.  It has the center panel there are all three of Diego’s iconic figures, Hound, Coyote and Fox.  They are at that defining moment of creation, with each of them in an intertwined dance in the cosmos.  The bowl is flared out and it is painted with a classic Mimbres design.  It is signed on the rim, “Chongo Made Me, Chongo Painted Me”.  The bowl is in perfect condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.

Click here to read more about Diego’s Imagery!

Dolores Aragon is known for her miniature pottery. This small seedpot is painted with a flower pattern on the top. The design extends outward with additional flower petals.  While it is small, it is beautifully painted!  It is signed on the bottom.