Taos Pueblo Micaceous Pottery Water Jar by Angie Yazzie [SOLD]

This wonderful micaceous pottery water jar was created by award-winning Taos Pueblo artist Angie Yazzie. There are some black markings on the bottom.  They are her signature that was added with ink. It was immediately identified by one of our most dedicated clients.

"Angie Yazzie, a member of Taos Pueblo, was born in Taos in 1965 and has lived at the pueblo all her life. She was exposed to pottery making at an early age by her grandmother, Isabel Archuleta, and her mother, Mary Archuleta. Her maternal grandparents, who owned a curio shop at Taos Pueblo and made everything they sold, were very influential in shaping her interest in art. As a little girl she watched her grandmother make pottery and was encouraged to experiment on her own. In elementary school, Yazzie's classmates teased her about sitting with her grandmother and making pots. This experience caused her to give up potting when she was in high school, but she renewed her interest after graduation.

Yazzie's first pots were rough and heavy. She strove to make thin-walled pieces, which were considered superior, and became so adept that today she [must] concentrate on making thicker walls. "People don't buy large thine-walled vessels," she commented. "They are afraid they will break, although they are actually very strong." Yazzie fires the way her grandmother taught her, using cedar fuel in a pit. She sometimes fires as many as fifteen pieces at a time—as many as the pit will hold. Some of the other potters were amazed by this information. Christine McHorse, for example, fires one piece at a time."  [All That Glitters, pp 94-95]

At over a foot in diameter, this is a large and impressive piece of pottery.  It is a wide jar, with a shoulder that flattens out before turning upward to a flared rim.  It is thin walled, which is common for pieces like this, and the thin walls are evenly formed and consistent throughout.  The micaceous clay shimmers softly under light, and black fire clouds appear around the exterior and interior, providing an all-natural design pattern of sorts atop the reddish brown tone of the clay.  These colors work wonders together, creating real depth and texture that is a joy to view.  This elegant jar is an excellent example of Taos Pueblo micaceous pottery.

Pottery of a variety of styles existed at all the northern New Mexico Pueblos in the nineteenth century, but the micaceous wares of the northern pueblos—Taos and Picuris, for instance—were the only ones that survived by 1900.  Their salvation was the durability of micaceous pottery for use in cooking.  Even with the availability of commercial pots and pans, the women continued to cook in micaceous pottery.  

Today, micaceous wares still serve their homes as superior cooking vessels, but a new movement has developed to make art pottery with micaceous clay.  Functional in the kitchen and beautiful in the living room would be a good way to describe the direction of micaceous pottery.

Condition: excellent condition

Provenance: this Taos Pueblo Micaceous Pottery Water Jar by Angie Yazzie was purchased in the 1980s in Taos by a collector who is now downsizing

Reference and Recommended Reading: All That Glitters —The Emergence of Native American Micaceous Art Pottery in Northern New Mexico by Duane Anderson, SAR Press

Relative Links: Taos Pueblo, Contemporary Pottery, Angie Yazzie