NATIVE AMERICAN POTTERY OF THE SOUTHWEST

Rich colors, complex textures, and finely wrought traditional motifs abound in this luminous catalogue.

Husband-and-wife collectors Isaacs and Swartz showcase contemporary Native American artists inspired by ancient pottery finds and grouped by the styles of different pueblos. The pieces include Dora Tse-Pé’s San Idelfonso Pueblo jar, with its characteristic black-matte-on-black-gloss finish and carvings of a water serpent; Jacob Koopee’s Hopi-Tewa jar, with its mottled brown-to-reddish earth tones and abstracted bird figures; an Acoma Pueblo jar by Frederica Antonio, with dazzling geometric swirls of black-and-white spots setting off spindly, hump-backed, Kokopelli flute-players climbing a cliff-wall staircase; a Jemez Pueblo vase by Sharon Sarracino that features a brightly hued figure of a kachina (a deified ancestral soul) in the guise of a butterfly maiden; and Deldrick Cellicion’s Zuni Pueblo wedding vase, which has dual bride-and-groom spouts and a big, bold, black lizard sporting white-and-orange spots climbing the exterior to symbolize marital bliss. Interspersed are biographical snippets on the artists, engaging background information on the history of Native American pueblos and their suffering at the hands of white authorities, and engrossing details of traditional pottery techniques. (Toward “the end of firing, the potter smothers the fire with fine manure, thus preventing oxygen from reaching the pots and turning them black.”) A concluding chapter offers novice pottery collectors useful tips both practical and spiritual. (“If it doesn’t speak to you, move on.”) Isaacs and Swartz write scintillating appreciations of these artworks in subtle, evocative prose; Wilfred Garcia’s vase, featuring a mouth styled as a building, “has a simplicity and purity that cannot be found elsewhere in the Acoma Pueblo,” they write. “The mouth provides a soaring cathedral-like effect, giving the piece a monumental, contemporary look.” Kviatkovska’s color photographs effectively demonstrate the visual impact of these well-chosen pieces.

A striking display of Native American pottery that conveys the medium’s exquisite artistry and fascinating cultural context.