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LegacyStoriesProcessConnections

Storage Jar, Trinidad Medina, c. 1945
Storage Olla, Margaret Tafoya, 1940 & Wedding Jar, Nestor Silva, 1951
Melon Jar, Andrew Padilla, 1995 & Seed Jar, Dorothy Torivio, 1982
Jar, Lonnie Vigil, 1990
 

STORIES

Icon-rich designs, narrative scenes of earthly and mythical beings, rain symbolism, ancient petroglyphs, Corn Mother designs, and creation stories dance across the vessels. The pots tell of ancestors and how they evolved. Today, the vessels give voice to the potters' statements, sometimes using the pottery as metaphors for issues in today's world.

Many pots depict the entire cosmos of the Indian world, from the point of emergence from within the earth at the base, up to the rim, which represents the sun. The pots themselves are invested with human qualities as they are being made: stomach, shoulder, mouth. Even the making of the pots creates stories of birth, growth, and old age. While many stories are evident to the observer, others remain a mystery, known only to the Pueblo community or to the individual potter.