Polished Black Santa Clara Pueblo Bowl

Nathan Youngblood (1954- ) Deer Path chose to leave this bowl void of decoration and to let the beautiful dark black burnishing serve that purpose.  There is a beauty in such a vessel shape, in the dark black mirror reflection, and in the burnishing to a high luster.

The jar is signed with the name of the artist but there is no date of when it was made.  It is quite likely that it dates to the late 1970s, as that was a period when Nathan produced what may be called understated pottery—understated not being a negative term but a term of accomplishment.

Nathan Youngblood is an outstanding potter from a family of many outstanding potters.  He is the grandson of Margaret Tafoya and son of Mela Youngblood.  His sister is Nancy Youngblood.   Youngblood is known for his creative designs and technical precision.  His burnishing is very fine, and he finely sands the edges of his carved designs.  Like his grandmother, he believes in the importance of traditional firing one pot at a time, thus greatly diminishing the chance of damage to pottery that may have taken 300 to 400 hours of preparation.

Condition: this Polished Black Santa Clara Pueblo Bowl excellent condition

Provenance: from the Southwest Indian Pottery collection of a family from Durango, Colorado

Recommended Reading - image of Nathan Youngblood and wife Anne: Pueblo Indian Pottery: 750 Artist Biographies, c.1800-Present by Gregory and Angie Schaaf. Photo by Nancy Reyner.