Lyn A. Fox Fine Pueblo Pottery in Santa Fe will present Zia Pueblo Pottery Then and Now, 1890s-2022, opening August 10 and running through September 30. There will be fine examples of early thick-walled utilitarian pieces and large storage jars by contemporary potters Elizabeth and Marcellus Medina.
Zia Trios polychrome water jar, ca. 1890, 11 x 12¾”
A Trios Polychrome Water Jar, circa 1890, made for daily use, bears intricate black and red designs on a white slip with a stone-polished red interior. The bottom of the jar shows signs of calcification from the pueblo’s hard water and the jar tips a little off center. This imperfection didn’t matter because it was a perfectly useable vessel. As potters transitioned from making pieces for daily use into producing work to appeal for the art market, perfection became more important.
Marcellus Medina holding one of his large storage jars.
Elizabeth Medina is from Jemez and learned to make Zia pottery from her husband Marcellus’ mother, Sofia. Elizabeth and Marcellus carry on the tradition of Zia pottery, inspired by the potters of old but adding their own innovations.
Designs on traditional pots were often symmetrical. Their pots introduce asymmetry as well as additional colors such as brown, tan and even salmon. Marcellus makes his own vegetable and mineral pigments and continues to experiment.
Zia polychrome olla, 1938, 7½ x 8½” All photos by Robert McDaniel.
Although local clay mixed with volcanic basalt fires into durable vessels, there are risks working with the big heavy clay coils and firing them since they can often crack. The arrival of a successful large storage jar is a cause for celebration.
Lyn A. Fox Fine Pueblo Pottery
August 10-September 30, 2022
839 Paseo de Peralta, Unit K, Santa Fe, NM 87501
(505) 577-0835, www.foxpueblopottery.com
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