Lois and Derek Eagle Pictorial Polychrome Jar

The husband-and-wife team Lois Gutierrez and Derek de la Cruz's pottery is distinctively different from the work of most Santa Clara Pueblo potters. According to Stephen Trimble in the book Talking with the Clay, "Lois and Derek have developed a distinctive slip by adding white to dark-gold clay to make a buff background color — Derek walks the hills in search of new clays. Lois says that he nearly always 'sticks in an experiment whenever we're firing to eaglesee how a certain color is going to come out.'" They have devoted a great deal of time and energy into experimenting with and utilizing various different pigments. This provides them with a wide-ranging palette for their intricately painted designs.

The lower quadrant of this jar features stone-polished red slip in traditional Santa Clara Pueblo form. It is the upper two-thirds of the jar that is extraordinarily unique to this couple. The tall slender neck design, repeated on front and back, is an elaborate eagle in flight. The image is a modern version of the bird with a long neck and head. Its body is rendered in brown pigment with red and blue designs of hook elements. The birds' wings are spread clearly displaying the white feathers with brown tips on one wing and black tips on the other. 

The shoulder displays a wide band of designs of geometric and architectural shapes. On the top of the rim are four small black dots signifying the four cardinal directions. These carefully executed dots could very well represent the four mountains that border the Tewa world — San Antonio Peak at the north, Sandia on the south, Tsikoma at the top of the Jemez on the west, and Lake Peak or Truchas Peaks in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Lois is a daughter of Petra Gutierrez and sister to Gloria (Goldenrod) Garcia, Thelma Talachy, Lupita Gutierrez, and Minnie Vigil, all of whom are outstanding potters as well. Lois and Derek started working together in 1970. The jar is co-signed as Lois-Derek.

Condition: very good condition

Provenance: this Lois and Derek Eagle Pictorial Polychrome Jar is from the collection of a gentleman from Albuquerque.

Reference: Talking with the Clay: The Art of Pueblo Pottery by Stephen Trimble

TAGS: Santa Clara Pueblo, Petra, Goldenrod (Gloria Garcia), Thelma Talachy, Minnie Vigil, Southwest Indian Pottery, Pojoaque Pueblo, PO-SUWAE-GEH, Lois Gutierrez, Lois and Derek Gutierrez de la Cruz