Clearly Indigenous Audio Exhibition
Pueblo Pottery Recreated in Glass
Hello, I’m Meisha Williams, the museum’s community engagement coordinator. I will be sharing the introduction to the “Pueblo Pottery Recreated in Glass” section of Clearly Indigenous: Native Visions Reimagined in Glass.
Pueblo Peoples of the southwestern United States have created utilitarian vessels made of clay for millennia. Pueblo pots and other vessels can be found in many museum collections, and are admired not only for their utility, but also for their artistry. Throughout the twentieth century and continuing into the present, traditional pottery forms made by Pueblo potters have been appreciated for their beauty as well as for the cultural continuity they embody.
Several Pueblo artists have chosen to work in glass as their primary medium. Others, who generally work with clay, have collaborated with glass blowers to create works of art that incorporate Pueblo pottery designs onto blown glass vessels. Traditional shapes of ollas, seed jars, and wedding vases created in glass and designed with ancestral or more contemporary motifs are recognizably Pueblo.
Native glass artists have shown courage by stepping beyond the bounds of historical art media. They are part of the continuum of generations that have incorporated cultural knowledge and traditional designs into their art across an ever-evolving set of media. Although the means and modes of creating art change with time and availability, cultural heritage remains integral, as seen in these Pueblo pots.