Santa Clara potter Autumn Borts-Medlock doesn’t see a creative payoff in her work until nearly the very end, in that last sprint to the finish line. “It all comes down to that last part, the firing,” she says. “I hand-coil my pots, so I’m not throwing them on a wheel and it takes a lot longer. Then I draw onto the surface in multiple layers to create those depths. It’s only much later, from several months to even 12 months, when they get fired and I see what I have. Sometimes they come out perfect, and sometimes not. But that’s the beauty of the process.”
Pueblo Parrot, Native clay, Native clay slips
For Borts-Medlock, who lives and works outside Albuquerque, New Mexico, the fire can be revealing—“Compared to other mediums, pottery is certainly labor intensive, and there is an element of not knowing until it comes out of the fire,” she adds.
The potter will be showing new work in Through the Clouds at King Galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico, beginning May 29. She got the idea for the show many years ago as she started exploring her weather-inspired design elements. “I love the idea of putting a two-dimensional design on a three-dimensional object. One of my first designs was a vase that looked like a raindrop and the lid was a cloud design, and it fit onto the vase perfectly so it looked like one piece,” she says. “Rain, the clouds and birds, these are the subjects that are inspirational to me lately.”
Above the Cliffs, Native Clay, Native clay slips
Another subject that is fascinating to the potter is the parrot, which has a long history in the Southwest, going all the way back to the Mimbres and Anasazi people who were living in what is Arizona and New Mexico today. “Back when Chaco Canyon was inhabited, it was a hub for trading and people would bring things up from South America, including parrots. I can only imagine that the Indigenous people were blown away at the colors of the feathers,” she says. “They used feathers because the rainbow was a symbol that was connected to rain, and the feathers looked like rainbows.” One of Borts-Medlock’s new pieces is Pueblo Parrot and it shows her fascination with this subject matter.
In Flight, Native clay, Native clay slips
Birds and Clouds, Native clay, Native clay slips
“Autumn Borts-Medlock is known for her innovative perspective in shapes and deeply carved designs using traditional Santa Clara clay,” says Charles King, owner of King Galleries. “She began using classic designs passed down from her mother and grandmother. However, it is her own personal daily experiences that now bend the clay and find their way carved into the surface of each vessel. Her recent work combines colors of clay with birds, cliffs, clouds, bees and traditional Pueblo designs. The shapes challenge our image of the classic Pueblo jar as they spiral, curve and flow to capture a new sense of motion in her artwork.”
King Galleries
May 29-June 6, 2021
130 Lincoln Avenue, Suite D, Santa Fe, NM 87501
(480) 440-3912, www.kinggalleries.com
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