POTTERY : A Journey from Functional to Art

As I had started to describe in the previous post, much of what today is considered American Indian Art, serves a function within a certain tribe's culture.  This blog will focus on pottery made by the Pueblo Indians of the Southwest.  "There are nineteen individual pueblos in the Southwest.  They are commonly divided into six distinct language groups: Tiwa, Towa, Tewa, Keresan, Zuni, and Hopi" (Hucko, 6).  This blog will focus on pottery produced by the Tewa speaking  pueblos especially potters of Santa Clara and San Ildefonso. 

A sign I found at the recently revamped Denver Art Museum described the cultural function of art as so: "Some of these artists learned their techniques from relatives and elders, others received formal schooling and professional apprenticeships, and some received fine art degrees from institutions...their inspiration is varied as well--some find it in cultural traditions, others in contemporary art movements, but all posses the inner drive to experiment and create".  Most of what is today considered Indian Art comes from the peoples way of life, "In their own language, Tewa people have no word for art.  Pottery, paining, embroidery, dance, and other "art" forms are not considered separate from life.  On the contrary, art is seen as synonymous for work, thoughts, and expressions" (Hucko, 4).

It is important to realize many indigenous groups have been studied by anthropologists and many of their societies tools were also studied.  "The early decades of the Twentieth century marked an intense interest in Native artistry and individuality on the part of a small group of anthropologists, most of them students of Franz Boas.  Pueblo pottery, Navajo weaving, and California basket-making, for example, all came under scholarly scrutiny. In these studies, the role of the individual artist was a new subject—for individual agency had never been part of what anthropologists had studied(Berlo, 6)." 

Below are some of the pottery housed in the CU-Museum that anthropologist have collected:

This picture shows multiple functions for pottery.  Some of these potteries are used as bowls, the bowls with the handles are either gourds cut down the middle to serve as ladles, and the black and white jug in the back row serves to store water.  This was mentioned on the signs at the museum but was not highlighted, was the importance of certain potteries for traditional and healing ceremonies and the effort that goes into making a piece of pottery and understanding that even a piece of pottery possesses a spirit because it comes from the earth, like the creation stories of the Pueblo Indians. 


In the 20th century, Maria Martinez, of Santa Clara and San Ildefonso Pueblos perfected the art of pottery.  She put her own unique twist on pottery and became world re known for her work.  Please take the time to watch the video clips below, they explain the traditional way of making pottery combined with her artistic spirit.

Maria Martinez gathering clay to make Pottery

and


The Legacy of Maria Martinez




As you can see from these video clips, Maria was very influential to the art of pottery but more importantly gave the Pueblo people a way to sustain themselves through traditional art forms and ways of life, giving their epistemologies the respect they deserve while continuing cultural practices.

While Maria Martinez pioneered pottery into an art form, many others continued her legacy through even more contemporary art forms.  Today the Pueblos have various potters with a few gaining international attention including potters such as Diego Romero and sculptor Roxanne Swentzell.

Diego Romero comes from Cochiti Pueblo and utilizes ceramic made potteries to serve as the canvas for his social and personal "comic series"  Below is a a few pictures of his artwork.  A few of his pieces can also be seen locally at the CU-Museum and the Denver Art Museum.

Another prominent sculptor using her own technique, but pueblo clay and traditions, is Roxanne Swentzell.  While her work is controversial to some, it is also representative of the avenues Native artists take traditional forms.  See the images of her work below.

Her sculptures vary from in size, she is currently working on a 20 foot interactive art piece at the Denver Art Museum.



As you can see the progression of this single art form from the Southwest region, of Pueblo Indians in particular, we are able to see how the function of pottery has changed from a purely functional use to that of a very artistic art form.  But it is important to remember that pottery is still made and used in traditional ceremonies as well.  Many other art forms from multiple American Indian regions have gone through this progression with different art forms as well.  In the blogs to come other images will depict these evolutions and further discuss what this art means to the Indigenous of this land.