Hand-coiled Navajo Pottery

NATIVE AMERICAN POTTERY
NAVAJO POTTERY
Hand-coiled pinon pitch pottery by Navajo artist Jerome Begay. Gecko design pottery is approximately 8 1/2" high and 6" wide. Signed by the artist.
http://www.redrocktrading.com12274jbgck.html
$219.00

Item #:	12274jbgck
Price:	$274.00
Sale Price:	$219.00
Availability:	Usually ships the next business day
Quantity:

Product Description

Hand-coiled pinon pitch pottery by Navajo artist Jerome Begay. Gecko design pottery is approximately 8 1/2" high and 6" wide. Signed by the artist.

Navajo handmade pinon pitch pottery is made with the best clay found on the Navajo reservation from Shonto, AZ. The clay is gathered by the potter and mixed to a specific consistency with water and lava sand. The Shonto Clay is then hand-coiled and shaped to the desired design. The potter then uses a corn cob, shucked and stripped of corn to “comb” the imperfections from the clay, fill small cracks and level out any surface irregularities. A mineral slip, referred to as “chee slip” by some Navajo Native American potters, is then applied to the pot to create a smoother surface. As a final step prior to firing the Navajo pottery, the artist will polish the pottery with a stone to polish out any other undesired imperfections in the clay. After firing, but while the pot is still warm, the artist will apply pinon pitch inside and outside the pottery and then rub the outside with wax paper to evenly distribute the pitch, giving it a final “shine.”

redrocktrading.com carries a wide variety of Navajo Pinon Pitch Pottery from renowned artists, Alice Cling, Susie Crank, Lorraine Williams, Michelle Williams, Jerome Begay and Melissa Johnson. The Williams family tree of potters is as follows: Rose Williams, mother of Alice Cling, Susie Crank, George Williams and Jessie Williams; George Williams married Lorraine; Michelle Williams is the daughter of Alice Cling; Michelle Williams married Jerome Begay; Melissa Johnson learned the art from Jerome.

Pinon pitch is the sap from pinon trees and is heated and used as the final application to Navajo Pottery. Pinon trees are a small, relatively slow-growing pine and are the state tree of New Mexico.