Laguna Pueblo Small Polychrome Jar [SOLD]

Pottery production was thriving in the late nineteenth century at Laguna Pueblo because the transcontinental train made a daily stop on its trip from Chicago to Los Angeles and another stop on the daily return trip.  Passengers were allowed to get off the train to make purchases from the Laguna potters and from their Acoma neighbors who made the daily trip to Laguna.

Pueblo Pottery making began to decline at Laguna in the early twentieth century, largely because the men were being employed by the railroad, thereby providing cash income for the families.  It was then no longer necessary for the women to make pottery for sale to tourists. They could, and did, purchase pottery from potters at Acoma Pueblo for use in their households. By mid-twentieth-century, men and women were employed by the uranium mines on the pueblo lands, so there continued to be no need to create pottery for sale or for their own use.

Evelyn Cheromiah was an exception.  She was one of the few to continue making pottery.  In the 1970s, she received a federal grant to teach pottery making to others at the pueblo, thus sparking revival in pottery production at Laguna.  Still, today, there are only a few potters there.

Evelyn had continued, in all ways, to construct pottery in the traditional manner.  She collected her own clay, used potsherds for temper, mineral and vegetal paints for the designs, and fired in the traditional outdoor firing technique.  She well demonstrated her abilities in everything she made. Her vessels were well formed, meticulously painted and fired perfectly.

This small jar clearly illustrates the precision with which she worked.  Every line in the painted design was put on with absolute perfection. The parallel fine lines are truly parallel. The orange slip is thick and lush. It would be difficult to locate a finer example of contemporary Laguna pottery.

The jar is signed E. Cheromiah Old Laguna Pueblo, N.M.

Condition: this Laguna Pueblo Small Polychrome Jar is in excellent condition

Provenance: from the collection of a gentleman who travelled the reservations with his uncle and who inherited his uncles collection when he passed away.

Recommended Reading: Acoma & Laguna Pottery by Rick Dillingham