Exquisite Four-Color Laguna Pueblo OLLA with Traditional Pottery Designs by Max Early [SOLD]

This water jar by Max Early of Laguna Pueblo is one of the most beautifully balanced and exquisitely shaped vessels the artist has produced. The rounded body and high shoulder provided an excellent area for displaying the decoration. The artist explained his layout as follows: For design purposes, the vessel is divided into three bands. The lower band represents the earth; the middle band the sky; and the neck band, the supernatural, where the katsinas live.

He included bird features on the main body and corn plants on the neck area. The square boxes contain split rectangular elements that are a hallmark of Laguna Pueblo historic vessels.

Max Early credits Gladys Paquin as a mentor and the evidence is clear when looking at his vessel shapes as they are quite like those of Gladys.  Max was born in 1963 and is still an active potter.

He has his work in the permanent collections of The Cincinnati Art Museum, San Diego Museum of Man, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, and the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. He received a Fellowship Artist award from Southwestern Association for Indian Arts in1994 and has received awards at the Santa Fe Indian Market and the New Mexico State Fair.

Condition: this Exquisite Four-Color Laguna Pueblo OLLA with Traditional Pottery Designs very good condition

Provenance: Purchased from the artist in 2012, sold to a client at that time, and now have it back for placement in another collection.

Recommended Reading: Southern Pueblo Pottery 2,000 Artist Biographies by Gregory Schaaf

Relative Links: Max Early, Southwest Indian Pottery, Laguna Pueblo, Gladys Paquin