IT WAS AN ACCIDENT THAT FINALLY RESUSCITATED THIS ANCIENT, TRADITIONAL ART FORM, MADALENA SAYS. “I WAS FIRING POTS, AND THE LARGE ONES CRACKED, AND IT WAS SAD. I HAD BEEN WORKING (ON THE POTS) FOR ABOUT A MONTH. I STARTED THROWING THE HOT DIRT ON TOP OF ALL THE POTS. THE NEXT MORNING I WENT OUT TO UNCOVER THE SMALLER ONES, AND I COULDN’T BELIEVE IT... ”
picked up pieces of old pottery in the differ- ent villages and took them up to Santa Fe to the Office of Archaeological Studies to take a look through a microscope. There were ex- perts who could only guess about the process. The most complex part of this whole process was finding the correct proportion of clay and minerals that could withstand the high tem- peratures of pit fires. “The clay was melting at about 1000
“ONE
degrees when the pit fires were getting up to about 1800 degrees. I had to go through about a decade of trial and error before I thought the pottery was ready to go out into the public,” says Madalena, who currently resides in the Jemez Pueblo about 50 miles northwest of Albuquerque. “I wanted to make sure that the public
would be purchasing authentic, bona fide pot- tery of the Jemez people,” he adds. “This form of pottery had been lost for over 300 years and one of my biggest concerns was making sure it looked like the old vessels. I was able to accomplish that. What was once oppressed is now living again.” It was an accident that finally resuscitated
this ancient, traditional art form, Madalena says. “I was firing pots, and the large ones cracked, and it was sad. I had been working (on the pots) for about a month. I started throwing the hot dirt on top of all the pots. The next morning I went out to uncover the smaller ones, and I couldn’t believe it. “They held together and it was the first
time that I had seen a contemporary black- on-white that came out almost perfect. I feel
18 AMERICAN INDIAN SUMMER 2015
thing I did was I
Medicinal Bowl, 10" x 4", all natural paint, clay, slip, high-temperature pit fire, handmade, painted with yucca.
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