Dorothy Torivio Acoma Long Neck Yucca Leaf Pattern Seed Pot [SOLD]

If one were to scan the body of work by artist Dorothy Torivio of Acoma Pueblo, it is clear she created pottery like that of none other.  This jar provokes the mind and spirit.  There are questions about shape, optical illusion, and era.  To create something futuristic, looking in the past, makes it timeless.  To stretch the mind with the organic movement of constricted, expanded, and then constricted patterns evokes the very movement of breathing.   Specifically, this piece features interlocking yucca leaves growing larger from the mouth rim and then smaller to the base.

There is no arguing this jar is captivating and the potential reasons for this are many.  Resembling a funnel, an oil lamp and a seed jar, this piece is feather light.  Such thin-walled pottery is rare, even inside the category of Acoma which is known for its very fine pieces.  Such precision stands out from the rest as well, with truly precise yucca-applied pigments in its clarity and care.  Torivio even took the time to apply the dark brown on the inside of the jar’s opening. It is matte finished throughout.  

Dorothy Torivio (1946 - 2011) was born at Acoma Pueblo. She is recognized for her innovative work in exaggerated seed-pot forms in all ranges of sizes. She covered her vessels with black and white or polychrome patterns of exceptional intricacy, painted freehand with yucca and an exacting precision.

Torivio was among the first to use and then refine the "op-art" style in her Acoma pottery. She took specific Acoma patterns and then repeated them on a vessel, ranging the size from small to large and then small again, following the vessel's shape. The shape of the jar is one that Torivio created to emphasize her painted designs.

Dorothy grew up watching her mother, Mary Antonio Vallo, making pottery. She was fascinated by the process, but her mother never gave her any direct instruction. That was left to her mother-in-law, Lolita Torivio Concho.

Dorothy's father worked for the railroad, and he was transferred to California in the early 1950s. She grew up and completed her education in California, but during the summer breaks, she and her mother would return to Acoma. She spent most of her teenage summers standing beside the roadway of old US Highway 66 selling her mother's and grandmother's pottery. The money she made there helped to sustain her family at Acoma. When Dorothy found herself the single mother of three kids in the early 1970s, she returned to making pottery full-time to support her family.

Condition: excellent, original condition. 

Provenance: this Dorothy Torivio Acoma Long Neck Yucca Leaf Pattern Seed Pot is from a private collection

Recommended Reading: ART OF CLAY Timeless Pottery of the Southwest by Lee M. Cohen, former owner of Gallery 10

Relative Links: Acoma Pueblo, Lolita Concho; Juanita Keene; Sandra M. Victorino, Contemporary Pottery, Dorothy Torivio, Acoma Pueblo Potter