Pueblo Indian pottery

One of the most striking characteristics of Pueblo Indian pottery is its variety. The diversity of the variations of texture, color, form and style of decoration seem to be almost endless and is one of the qualities of Pueblo Indian pottery that tends to appeal to collectors.

The rich differences that attract more seasoned collectors of pottery can be overwhelming to someone looking at Indian pottery for the first time. Several factors contribute to the diversity of Pueblo Indian pottery. These can be lumped into three basic categories: materials, traditions, and innovations.

Materials—The makers of traditional pottery tend to use materials local to their own Pueblo. Acoma is known for its white clay and slip; Zia is recognized for red clay; Hopi for yellow ware; etc. The use of local materials greatly increases the amount of time required to make a pot. The Pueblo potter does not go to the store to buy prepared clay, tempering material, glaze, or paint. The potter, often with a friend or relative, must go to the source to dig the clay from the ground. Time is also spent gathering the tempering, slip, and paint materials. Even fuel for the fire must be gathered and dried. Impurities are removed by hand before the clay can be ground on a metate (stone). Paints are also prepared by hand by grinding rocks or clays that produce different colors or boiling plants to produce black carbon paint.

Traditions—Each village has its own tradition concerning what a pot should look like, the pottery from pueblos that use essentially the same materials and techniques can look quite different. Potters from San Ildefonso usually use matte paint on a highly polished background, while Santa Clara potters often carve a design into the surface of the pot, giving a bas relief effect. Cochiti and Santo Domingo potters use a black carbon paint which requires a special slip material that prevents the use of fine lines in the decoration. Furthermore, Santo Domingo potters are not permitted to use certain designs with religious meanings on their pottery, while Cochiti potters have fewer restrictions.

Varying traditions also occur within different families of a pueblo. Carving is a technique developed at Santa Clara that requires relatively thick vessel walls; sculpted designs are produced by carefully carving selected parts of the wall of the pot. Each Santa Clara family that uses the carving technique has its own style.

Innovation—The final factor that contributes to the variety of Pueblo Indian pottery is individual innovation. It is this factor that makes contemporary pottery such an exciting art form. Artists in virtually every one of the pottery-making Pueblos are reinterpreting traditional forms, creating new styles, or even reviving old ones.

The pottery from each pueblo is unique:

Acoma Pottery –The Acoma Pueblo situated on the top of a mesa in New Mexico, known as Sky City, has become known for its Native American pottery. The Acoma Pottery features extremely fine lines and is sometimes decorated with vibrant figures. However, the Acoma are most well known for their black and white geometric patterns. The Acoma pottery makers usually use a whitish background. Often the figures in this particular American Indian pottery are of birds, vines, lizards or deer. Acoma potters have long been admired for the thin walls of their pottery as well as the complicated geometric patterns. The Acoma pottery makers were very influential in the pottery of the Zuni pottery makers.

Zuni Pottery – The Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico is the largest of the New Mexico pueblos. Due to the influence of the Acoma pottery makers on the Zuni pottery makers, the styles are similar in the fine lines, complicated geometric patterns, the use of animal figures and the thin walls. Pottery in the shape of owls, and, lately, chickens, has become somewhat popular among the Zuni pottery makers.

Hopi Indian Pottery – The Hopi Nation consists of approximately 650,000 acres of land surrounded on all sides by the Navajo reservation. It is focused on three Mesas appropriately named First, Second and Third Mesa. Located on Third Mesa is Old Oraibi which has the distinction of being the oldest, continuously inhabited village in North America. The background of the pottery made by the Hopi pottery makers tends to have a yellowish or golden look. The pottery from these highly respected American Indian pottery makers is usually decorated in traditional designs which come from the natural world. They include such designs as birds, plants, animals, rain, lightning, snow and wind. The Hopi pottery making tradition which was almost lost at the turn of the century is very much alive and well

Navajo Indian Pottery - Navajo pottery makers have been making practical pottery for years. When metal utensils became available to the Navajo through the trading posts, pottery production declined. The Navajo pottery makers go out and dig the clay, clean and prepare it, roll it into coils, shape the coiled clay into pottery and then hand smooth and hand polish it using gourds and stones. The Navajo pottery maker then fires the pot, usually in open pits fueled with sheep dung. The final step is the application of two coats of melted pinon pitch which gives the piece its bright appearance and brown color. The “traditional” pottery does not have hand painting of any type on the vessel.

One of the most popular pieces of Navajo pottery is the Navajo Wedding Vase.This pottery is based on the Navajo tradition that the godmother of the groom must make the vase. The godmother takes stones which are “holy” and dips them into water which is put into the vase for the day of the reception. At the appropriate time the godmother places the Navajo Wedding Vase in front of the couple. The bride drinks from one side and the groom drinks from the other. The vase is passed around the room with the men drinking from one side, and the women from the other. After the wedding the vase is filled with the drink chosen by the family, and then passed to family members to drink in the manner described above. The Navajo Wedding Vase is then given to the couple for good luck.

Santa Clara Pottery – This particular pueblo as well as the San Ildefonso Pueblo are most well known for their black and red pottery, as well as some black-on-black pottery. The Native American pottery maker in these pueblos polish their pottery to a bright sheen and then etch or carve in traditional designs. The black color is created during the firing and is a result of oxygen reduction when the oxygen is driven from the manure during this process. The firing must be carefully controlled by the Native American pottery maker to achieve the desired result.

Jemez Indian Pottery – The American Indian pottery makers from the Jemez Pueblo share many influences with the Zia Pueblo pottery makers due to the close geographical location of the two pueblos. During the pre-Spanish era the Jemez pottery makers produced a Black-on-White style of pottery. The manufacturing of decorated pottery types of Jemez Black-on-White ceased sometime in the early to mid-eighteenth century. The Jemez pottery makers reportedly shattered literally hundreds of the vessels, so that they would not get in to the hands of the Spanish. Many of the designs of the Zia pottery makers were incorporated into a new style of pottery which the Jemez began to produce around the turn of the century. Though based on Zia design, this new style of Jemez pottery has a distinctive Jemez signature of black-on-red.

Zia Pottery – Zia Pottery makers have created a unique buffed slip, polychrome decorated design. Zia pottery makers retain the designs and trends of their ancestors more than virtually any other Native American pottery makers. Zia pottery has thicker walls and has a symmetrical shape. Zia pottery makers use a hand ground stone with their clay which adds strength when the pottery is fired. Their pottery is seldom polished and contains their traditional symbols such as the roadrunner, flowers, clouds, rainbows and the Zia symbol for the sun, which is the symbol on the New Mexico state flag.