You probably thought the mystery of the desert was “The Thing” along I-10 between Wilcox and Benson, but you would be wrong. The real mystery of the desert is “what in the heck did the Salado use for a white slip on Pinto, Gila and Tonto polychrome”?
Most of the stuff you read (POTTERY AND PIGMENTS IN ARIZONA: SALADO POLYCHROME) says that it was a kaolin type clay, but I doubt the people that write these things have ever attempted to duplicate Salado pottery. (more…)
In my opinion there is way too much modern in most traditional southwestern pottery, the key word here is “traditional”. Modern technology in pottery is fine but if that is what you are doing, why make pretensions of being traditional, unless perhaps you are just using tradition to sell your artwork. Southwest pottery is beautiful to look at for sure, but there is another beauty there as well, a poetic beauty. There are two points in which it is poetically beautiful. (more…)
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