Pueblo Pottery example essay topic
450 words
The historic period of pueblo pottery (AD 1600 until 1880) began during the time of the first Spanish settlements and lasted u till the completion of the railroad through out the South West. During this period potters began to move away from the black on white pottery as characterized by Anasazi pottery and three and four color polychrome pottery emerged. The pueblo Indians whose name is Spanish for "stone Masonry village dweller", are one of the oldest cultures in the United States. One of their closest relatives the Anasazi Indians have a history, which is dated back to around 6,000 years. The Pueblo Indians are known for constructing impressive dwellings, making pottery and other artifacts, and weaving baskets. The Anasazi's followed their leads by improving their agricultural skills. A lot of pueblo pottery made in this area had black and white designs. Many of the designs that they put on their pottery resembled things such as their family, their village, or essentially what they had on their mind. Other kinds of pottery included plain and textured cooking vessels. Some of the common shapes for their pottery were jars, bowls, pitchers, ladles, canteens, figurines and miniatures. Pueblo Indian potters used clay that they gathered themselves, usually from their sacred land.
They sifted the clay to prepare it for the making of their pottery. One of the most common ways of making their potter was a method called coiling. The ancient process of coil making begins with the Indian gathering clay, plants, minerals, and shards of broken pottery from their conservation. The clay is then soaked. Paints, dyes and brushes were also made from these plants. In the most revered pueblo pottery, old shards are ground down and mixed with clay.
The shards make it so the clay will not shrink. It also prevents the clay from crackling during the drying process. Also the old ancient shards provided an important spiritual part in their history. The clay is rolled and coiled to form a new pot. After the pot is shaped they used a find sand mixture was applied (slip). After using the slip the left their pottery to dry.
When dry the use plants and other materials to make their paints. The pueblo potters also moved away from geometric designs and they moved towards natural objects such as birds and floral patterns. Pueblo pottery is amazing. It was very interesting to look at some of the works done by the pueblo Indians. I learned a lot about their culture and their ways of life..
