The exhibition “Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery” at the New Mexico Museum of Indian Arts and Culture undertakes the challenge.
About 35 years ago we walked into The Museum of Northern Arizona and there we “discovered” the art of the Native Americans in the Southwest. Something about it just captured our soul. Having lived and worked in a very Eurocentric world my wife and I had to bring ourselves into that culture in order to try to understand a totally different mindset. So began a journey that continues to live with us.
The exhibition consists of about 100 pottery objects selected from almost 4,000 in the Indian Arts Research Center (IARC), which is part of the School for Advanced Research here in Santa Fe, with the addition of 24 pots from the the outstanding collection in the Vilcek Foundation in New York. The exhibition was organized by Elysia Poon, IARC Director, Rick Kinsel, President of the Vilcek Foundation and Acoma Pueblo Governor, Brian Vallo, a former IARC director. The three pots I am illustrating were selected from the Foundation by them respectively.
Originating here in Santa Fe the exhibition celebrates the hundredth anniversary of the Indian Pottery Fund which became the IARC at the School of Advanced Research. Around 60 members of 21 tribal communities including New Mexico’s 19 Pueblos, known as the Pueblo Pottery Collective, responded to the invitation to select and discuss works from the collections.
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The Ceramic Vault at the IARC |
The cultural message that these pots live to tell a story of life and history, serving as a link between the generations is expressed in the installation where the pots are surrounded with quotes from the 60 curators and their reponses to the pieces. The interaction is brought to life in the film that accompanies the exhibition.
We were privileged to attend the Community Opening for the show with the curators and their families. After Pueblo prayers and a view of the exhibition there was a feast with great stews and enchiladas as well as other Native foods catered by a family from the Jemez/Laguna Pueblo. We were also treated to a Pueblo dance group. The evening ended with a traditional “Throw”. Large laundry baskets were brought out filled with Chips, Oreos, Krispy treats etc. etc. etc., as well as a few small stuffed animals for the kids, that were thrown onto the tables to be take home.
Next day I wrote to my children:“Last night was incredible. We were concerned about how one could make a bunch of pots interesting and understandable to those unacquainted with the material and culture they came from. We were delighted that the exhibition is enlightening, and the catalog is superb.”
It is hard to explain but for this Anglo “Grounded in Clay” and its community celebration managed to convey the spiritual aspect I have experienced of Native American culture.