NM09 Original Style

From the fine lines hand painted on a pueblo pot with a single-bristle yucca brush to the mesmerizing patterns of a Navajo weaving, the art and style of New Mexico’s first people are as stunning and powerful as they were a thousand years ago.

Native American artists have refined their skills through many generations passing techniques, experience, and spirit on to the next. Be it pottery, jewelry, weavings, clothing, flute making, painting, music, or sculpture, art is life to Native America.

Among the Native arts, pottery and weaving stand out in New Mexico. Pots begin with the potter digging clay at their favorite location, often kept secret and passed down through families. The potter then returns home and kneads it into balls, then rolls it into finger-thick ropes. Often a puki, or hollowed half of a gourd, helps form the bottom of the pot. The clay is coiled and smoothed by a river stone or gourd piece as the potter builds. The pot’s wall thickness and balance must be perfect and the clay free of debris, cracks, or air bubbles that would explode the pot on firing.

Several styles include the dough bowl, a large-mouth pot that was used for mixing and kneading bread; the seed pot, an almost completely round vessel with a small hole at the top that’s used to store and protect planting seeds from rodents; the wedding vase, a difficult-to-make object with two spouts connected with a handle, representing the union of a bride and groom.

Once the shape is formed, the potter paints a slip and design with plant-based pigments or carves designs, and signs the bottom. A spirit line is often painted around the mouth, never fully connecting to allow the pot’s spirit to enter and leave. The thin-clay slip is polished with a favorite stone, often one that has been passed down by an elder. The slip changes color depending on the fire temperature and the amount of oxygen the potter allows to reach the pot while firing.

The skill, patience, talent, and time that go into a true piece of pueblo pottery reflects in its price. Pots formed in molds and then painted are still valid works of art, but their prices should be much less.

Weaving is primarily associated with the Navajo, or Dine. The Dine were captured by the U.S. Army in 1864 and held in camps at Bosque Redondo in Southern New Mexico before being allowed back to their lands in the Four Corners. They were given sheep in an effort to move from a subsistence and raiding way of life to one that was agriculturally based. The resilient Dine became master weavers and silversmiths, hammering coins into intricate pieces of art. Sheep became important for food, clothing, and as a source of income. After the last frost in the spring, Churro sheep are shorn, their wool cleaned, carded, spun, dyed, and woven on wooden looms into almost-perfect pieces of art — “almost perfect” because weavers purposefully include a “mistake” into their weavings, often noticeable only to the weaver. The Dine understand the concept of perfection in imperfection (similar to the Japanese philosophy of Wabi Sabi).

Weaving designs often reflect the region where they were developed and are valued based on size and quality. In the past, weavers would trade their art for goods or store credit. Traders would then sell the weaving for cash. Because of the amount of time and skill it takes to make a large weaving and with modernization, weavings have become smaller. Mark Winter of the Historic Toadlena Trading Post & Museum and the Crownpoint Rug Auction are among individuals and organizations committed to keeping this art form alive. Dealers often buy directly from the artists and enjoy a special bond with the weavers.

Store staff will gladly point out what makes a quality weaving and answer questions. They’ll also tell you about the weaver, their style, and family history.

Purchasing authentic Native art is a fine way to remember your visit and support the cultures that distinguish New Mexico. You’ll be benefiting generations of artists here, while being able to pass a quality piece of art down through your own family.

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