# Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery - Hardcover

by **Pueblo Pottery Collective** (Author), **Elysia Poon** (Author), **Rick Kinsel** (Author)

No art form is more associated with the Native Americans  
of the Southwest than pottery. For centuries, Pueblo people have made beautiful  
pottery, often painted with intricate designs, for everyday activities such as  
cooking, food storage and gathering water, and for ceremonial use. Vessels of  
these types have been found at ancient sites including Chaco Canyon and Mesa  
Verde. The tradition of pottery-making continues to thrive among Pueblo  
communities in the Southwest, and while pottery is still made for practical  
purposes, it is also commonly produced for the art market. Since the  
time of the Ancestral  
Puebloans, pottery has been made predominantly by women. The pots are  
created from natural clay using a coil method; they are hand-painted and then  
fired outdoors. Designs vary from one Pueblo to another, but many symbols and  
motifs are shared by the Pueblos.

An impressive survey of more than 100 pieces of historic Pueblo  
pottery, _Grounded in Clay_ is remarkable for the fact that its content  
has been selected by Pueblo community members. Rather than relying on Anglo-American  
art historical interpretations, this book foregrounds Native American voices  
and perspectives. More than 60 participants from 21 Pueblo communities in the  
Southwest - among them potters and other artists, as well as writers, curators  
and community leaders - chose one or two pieces from the collections of the Indian  
Arts Research Center at the School of Advanced Research in Santa Fe, New  
Mexico, and the Vilcek Collection in New York. They were then given the freedom  
to express their thoughts in whichever written form they wished, prose or poem.  
Their lively, varied contributions reveal the pottery to be not only a  
utilitarian art form but also a powerfully intangible element that sits at the  
heart of Pueblo cultures. With magnificent photography throughout, _Grounded  
in Clay_ showcases the extraordinary history and beauty of Pueblo pottery  
while bringing to life the complex narratives and stories of this most  
essential of Native American arts.

### Author Biography

**Pueblo  
Pottery Collective** is a collective of more than 60 Native American community members  
from 21 Pueblo communities in the Southwest. The collective includes potters,  
designers and other artists, as well as writers, poets, community leaders and  
museum professionals. A small number of non-Pueblo museum professionals were  
facilitators and writers for this project, and are also part of the collective.

**Elysia  
Poon** is Director of the Indian Arts Research Center  
at the School for Advanced Research, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

**Rick  
Kinsel** is Director of the Vilcek Foundation, New York.

**Number of Pages:** 288

**Dimensions:** 1.2 x 11.6 x 10.1 IN

**Publication Date:** September 02, 2022

## Details

- **Price:** 70.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 70.00 USD | In stock |

## Images

- Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery - Hardcover

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