San Ildefonso Pueblo Small Blackware Jar with Turquoise and Heishi by Russell Sanchez [SOLD]

This wonderful blackware pottery jar was created by San Ildefonso Pueblo artist Russell Sanchez.  Those who are familiar with Sanchez’ work will recognize this pot’s creator immediately, as it features the seamless combination of old and new for which the artist is well known.  It is a blackware piece that manages to feature a variety of designs without feeling cluttered or imbalanced. Sanchez took a look at the jar and identified it as having been completed eight to ten years ago. 

The jar’s primary design is an expertly crafted avanyu, with a single eye made of high-grade Kingman turquoise.  As the avanyu’s body dips down, rain cloud designs emerge, filling what would be empty space in the incised band.  Two bands of heishi—made by Joe and Mary Calabaza, Sanchez pointed out—circle the jar’s widest point.  A band of sienna circles the jar’s rim, and its underbody is all perfectly polished black.  Its bottom is raised up into the jar, forming a conical impression.  Within the impression, the jar is signed Russell.

Award-winning San Ildefonso Pueblo artist Russell Sanchez (1966- ) is unquestionably one of the most talented and creative pueblo potters of today. He was born July 29, 1966 at San Ildefonso Pueblo. He is the grandson of Oqwa Pi (Abel Sanchez), a famous early San Ildefonso painter. Russell's grandmother and Rose Gonzales were sisters.  Sanchez could be referred to as a "modernist" potter. His work shows the influence of Tony Da and Popovi Da. He has incorporated different colors of clay into his work, often combining two or more colors in the same vessel. He inserts turquoise stones into some pieces, and inlays heishe into others. His restless imagination is a key to his success in creating a never-ending variety of work.  He is not an artist who repeats the same shape and style over and over, but an artist whose imagination pours forth with new ideas—ideas, Russell says, that are determined by the clay.

What is an Avanyu? a deity of the Tewa Pueblos-San Ildefonso, Tesuque, San Juan, Santa Clara, Nambe, and Pojoaque-and is the guardian of water. He is represented as a horned or plumed serpent with curves suggestive of flowing water or the zig-zag of lightning. He appears on the walls of caves located high above canyon rivers in New Mexico and Arizona and may be related to the feathered serpent of Mesoamerica- Quetzalcoatl and related deities.

Condition: excellent condition

Provenance: private Arizona collection

Recommended Reading: Art of Clay: Timeless Pottery of the Southwest by Lee M. Cohen

Relative Links: Abel Sanchez, Rose Gonzales, Southwest Indian Pottery, San Ildefonso Pueblo, Contemporary Pottery, Tony Da, Popovi Da, Russell Sanchez, San Ildefonso Pueblo Potter