New Mexico Puebloan Pottery Art Sculpture -circa 1960's

Native American Psychedelic Visionary Clay Art Sculpture-circa 1960's.... I know right? But, I guess you got to ask yourself if your eye can see the beauty. Despite first impressions this is not some ancient African water jug or a Chinese Urn. So...let me tell you how MemoryLaneVintiques acquired this "hybrid lost-art" item in our inventory. It is easy to trace this item's origin because I personally hand picked and bought this at a roadside "Tianguis" in Sante Fe back in 1996. The place was a huge out door venue with a crowd of people. It had a huge section in the back that had shelves displaying all kinds of clay sculptures with twists and turns, weird vessels, vases, flat rock and clay figurines....real earthy pop art stuff but kind of looked primitive so I was really intrigued. I have never seen anything like it so i peeked around the corner of the shelves and saw this elderly dark skin chic. She was all dirty and muddy and was sitting by a pottery wheel. She saw me gazing around and introduced herself as a "Hippie Puebloan Potter" and she was "marching to the beat of a strange drum" but really a sweet and spiritual soul. I told her that I was looking for a souvenir to take back to Texas and she immediately went to the shelf and handed me this item you see. She said she made it in the first year she started working at the tianguis in 1968. I remember her voiced cracked when she said she was 17 years when her boyfriend from Los Angeles left her at a hotel in Sante Fe with only $50 to her name and took everything else. Her voice cracked when she said "we were on our way to Birmingham". She told me she spent her last $20 on that potter wheel and 2 months rent in the corner of that tianguis taking a gamble on making her money back plus enough money for food. She had to use clay on the grounds out behind the market. She said that the inspiration for this piece came to her during a vision quest in the desert one time after chewing the crown of a peyote plant. When she woke up after the effects of the peyote wore off she went back to the her booth and jumped on the wheel. She said it started as a heart on a pedestal but then quickly made her version of a game piece like the ones on a chess board....she ended up with this. She then hammered her vision of the Pecos High Bridge in Texas over water. She said in her vision the scene of the bridges reflection over water stood still for minutes and then then started turning slow than fast like "movie film running horizontal" and lifted straight up in the air like a "Carousel In The Sky". She called the piece "Reflections Of A Chessmen's Soul" Never forget it....hahahahaha! I bought it and went on my way. In all the years I never could part with it....even chipping it from countless moves. It wasn't until I saw it in inventory that I even remembered the story. After processing the story she told me and looking at the piece laying down I can see the vision of the game piece...kind of like a Rook (chess) gone bad design. My opinion at the time she did peyote she felt like a pawn from what her boyfriend did and that love was just a game to him to get where he wanted to go...I don't know. If you look you can make out the trestle pointing up on top of a trestle pointing down like a reflection in water separated by possibly by a railroad track? The trestle is designed all the way around like a Carousel in motion symbolizing the infinity of the situation she is in and doing what she can to make money...watching that pottery wheel go round and round. I was truly astounded by her story because she looked like she was doing very well and it was apparent that she owned the entire building at this point and everyone worked for her. I guess this piece reminds me of overcoming adversities now but over the years I thought it was cool to put coins in.
People have asked me if everything I said in this listing is true....Well, it's true I said it:)

Made of clay by hand:Clay Pottery
Potter was under influence of psychic drug and drew visual inspiration of sculpture design: Visionary Art
Based on first hand provenance by retaining artist story of production: Date made 1968
***A Tianguis is an open-air market or bazaar that is traditionally held on certain market days in a town or
city neighborhood in New Mexico.
***A Hippie is a person who rejected the values of mainstream society in the 1960's and 1970's and
embraced a counter-cultural lifestyle.
***Puebloan is a person refers to the culture and lifestyle and traditions of the Ancestral Pueblo people
of Pueblo, New Mexico.
***A trestle is a bridge composed of a number of short spans supported by closely spaced frames.
Usually suspended over water and often for railroad use.
***Peyote is a small cactus. Parts of the cactus crown may be chewed or soaked in water to make a tea.
*** A Chessmen is a solid figure used as a chess piece.
*** Soul reflection is a spiritual practice that involves paying attention to oneself in order to grow in love
for others and God. It can also be referred to as self-reflection or soul searching.
***A Carousel is a merry-go-round.

Weighs: 2 lbs 5 oz
8-5/8" Tall
5-7/8" Mid Body Width
4-3/4" X 4-3/4 Mouth Diameter
3-5/8 X 3-5/8" Base Diameter
MemoryLaneVintiques sanitizes all glassware and glazed pottery before packing for shipment....100% Guaranteed!
People have asked me if everything I said in this listing is true....Well, it's true I said it:)


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