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Born of Clay Ceramics from the National Museum of The bornclay of ceramics from the National Museum of the American Indian NMAI EDITIONS NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION WASHINGTON AND NEW YORk In partnership with Native peoples and first edition cover: Maya tripod bowl depicting a their allies, the National Museum of 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 bird, a.d. 1–650. campeche, Mexico. the American Indian fosters a richer Modeled and painted (pre- and shared human experience through a library of congress cataloging-in- postfiring) ceramic, 3.75 by 13.75 in. more informed understanding of Publication data 24/7762. Photo by ernest amoroso. Native peoples. Born of clay : ceramics from the National Museum of the american late Mississippian globular bottle, head of Publications, NMai: indian / by ramiro Matos ... [et a.d. 1450–1600. rose Place, cross terence Winch al.].— 1st ed. county, arkansas. Modeled and editors: holly stewart p. cm. incised ceramic, 8.5 by 8.75 in. and amy Pickworth 17/4224. Photo by Walter larrimore. designers: ISBN:1-933565-01-2 steve Bell and Nancy Bratton eBook ISBN:978-1-933565-26-2 title Page: tile masks, ca. 2002. Made by Nora Naranjo-Morse (santa clara, Photography © 2005 National Museum “Published in conjunction with the b. 1953). santa clara Pueblo, New of the american indian, smithsonian exhibition Born of Clay: Ceramics from Mexico. Modeled and painted ceram institution. the National Museum of the American - text © 2005 NMai, smithsonian Indian, on view at the National ic, largest: 7.75 by 4 in. 26/5270. institution. all rights reserved under Museum of the american indian’s Photo by Walter larrimore. international copyright conventions. george gustav heye center in New No part of this book may be repro- York, 3 November 2005 through spring for information about the National duced or utilized in any form or by any 2007.” Museum of the american indian, means, electronic or mechanical, 1. indian pottery—exhibitions. visit the NMai Website at including photocopying, recording, or 2. indians—Material culture— www.americanindian.si.edu. by any information storage and exhibitions. retrieval system, without permission 3. indians—antiquities—exhibitions. in writing from the National Museum 4. Pottery—america—exhibitions. 5. of the american indian, smithsonian america—antiquities—exhibitions. institution. 6. National Museum of the american indian (u.s.). george gustav heye center—exhibitions. i. Matos Mendieta, ramiro. ii. National Museum of the american indian (u.s.). george gustav heye center. e59.P8B67 2005 738.089’97—dc22 2005029010 Contents 6 Foreword: Born of Clay kEVIN gOVER 8 Introduction: Cultural Continuity jOHN HAWORTH 11 The Andes: Embracing Tradition RAMIRO MATOS Consulting artists: Exaltación Mamani Amaro (Quechua) and Irma Rodríguez Moroco (Quechua) 19 Rivers of Interaction: Eastern North America ANN MCMULLEN, THOMAS E. EVANS, AND PATRICIA L. NIETFELD Consulting artists: Peter B. jones (Onondaga) and jereldine Redcorn (Caddo/Potawatomi) 27 Mesoamerica: The Cultural Wellspring of Ancient Mexico and Central America FELIPE SOLíS Consulting artists: Rubén Agurio Martínez Martínez (Nahua) and Eleazar Navarrete Ramírez (Nahua) 35 The Southwestern United States: Continuity and Change BRUCE BERNSTEIN Consulting artists: jody Folwell (Santa Clara) and Al Qöyawayma (Hopi) 44 Ceramics from NMAI’s Collections 8877 Notes 98 Native Knowledge 360˚ Foreword Born of clay What We call clay is actually a kind of min- of the american Indian (NMaI) is honored to serve eral deposit. the composition of a lump of clay de- as the steward of an extraordinary ceramics col- pends on where it was harvested: it is a true reflec- lection; it includes some 60,000 pieces spanning tion of the land it was drawn from, a revelation of its more than 6,000 years of Native life in the West- history. clay is created by an immensely slow pro- ern hemisphere. More than ninety percent of these cess, something akin to rock + water + eons. When objects are complete, a fact that sets our holdings we add fire to this equation, we have ceramic— apart from any other collection of similar size and durable, profoundly useful, and for many Native scope. Born of Clay highlights some of these remark- peoples, an important means of creative expression. able works. Many of our most exceptional objects are born of Since this book was first published in 2005, ac- clay that—like ourselves—was born of our home- cess to the museum’s collections has increased dra- lands, and from the deep histories they contain. matically through a searchable database available In 2010, as part of the National Museum of the on our website, www.americanIndian.si.edu. Our american Indian’s Renewing connections project, alliances with communities and tribal museums in artist Nora Naranjo-Morse (Santa clara) participat- central and South america have grown and deep- ed in a residency at the center for Indigenous arts ened. NMaI has established an Office for latin in el tajín, Veracruz, Mexico, with her daughter, america, headed by the esteemed scholar José Bar- eliza. Describing the experience in an interview, reiro (tsaíno). a much of this book showcases the she said, “at any given moment, I would hear sev- ceramics of Mesoamerican and South america, eral languages being spoken around the table, yet we have released it in a Spanish-language version, the universal language that connected us was the making it more accessible to individuals, scholars, clay.” Naranjo-Morse added that this scene, cen- and—most importantly—the indigenous commu- tered on a table crowded with women working in nities where so many of these vessels were created. clay, was similar to many she remembered from her NMaI has also teamed up with the Smithsonian own childhood in New Mexico. there’s something latino center on the central american ceramics very beautiful in how this image addresses both the Research Project, a special initiative to study, docu- social aspect of creation and the ways in which we ment, and identify items in our central american pass on cultural traditions. ceramics collections. that work in clay can transcend language, time, the circumstances surrounding the exhibition and place is something we observe time and again Born of Clay, which was on view in New york at the as we study our collections. the National Museum National Museum of the american Indian’s location in lower Manhattan between November 5, 2005, led the installation team. emily Kaplan and Megan and May 20, 2007, and the original publication of emery coordinated conservation of the ceramics the book remain the same as they were seven years collections, with Marian Kaminitz and a team of ago; with some minor updates, I include here the conservators. collections management staff Fran acknowledgments offered by my predecessor, W. Biehl Felber, Dominique cocuzza, Robert Marvin Richard West, Jr. (Southern cheyenne). to these Garcia hunt, and tony Williams were responsible I add my own special thanks to tim Johnson (Mo- for the care of the objects. Rajshree Solanki served hawk), associate director for museum programs, as registrar. Johanna Gorelick conceived of the edu- and tanya thrasher (cherokee), publications man- cational programs that complemented the project. ager, under whose leadership both this revision and lucia DeRespinis, trey Moynihan, Jihan Robinson, the Spanish-language edition came into being. and ann Marie Sekeres led the development effort. the museum is grateful to artists exaltación Ma- the beautiful object photographs in this book are mani amaro (Quechua), Jody Folwell (Santa clara), the work of the NMaI photo services staff, under Peter B. Jones (Onondaga), Rubén agurio Martínez the direction of cynthia Frankenburg, including Martínez (Nahua), Irma Rodríguez Moroco (Que- photographers ernest amoroso, Walter larrimore, chua), al Qöyawayma (hopi), eleazar Navarrete and Roger Whiteside, and digital technician Wil- Ramírez (Nahua), and Jereldine Redcorn (caddo/ liam Greene. additional object images were taken Potawatomi) for the wealth of knowledge and imagi- by the NMaI move team under the direction of nation they have brought to our understanding of ce- Scott Merritt. this book would not have been pro- ramics techniques and potters’ creative processes. duced without the commitment of the museum’s We also remain deeply indebted to the late Felipe publications office, especially terence Winch, for- Solís, who was the director of the National Museum mer head of publications, and ann Kawasaki. Steve of anthropology in Mexico city, for graciously cu- Bell created the lively design of these pages, assisted rating NMaI’s Mesoamerican collections for this by Nancy Bratton. holly Stewart and amy Pick- project. the scholarship of ann McMullen, thom- worth edited the text. We are especially grateful for as e. evans (Pawnee), Patricia l. Nietfeld, Ramiro the support of the late lou Stancari, NMaI photo Matos (Quechua), and former assistant director archivist, who aided the archival photo research for Bruce Bernstein are reflected throughout this book. the exhibition and tirelessly supported the project thanks are due as well to curatorial assistants the- from its inception. We respectfully dedicate this resa Burchett-anderson, Paz Núñez Regueiro, and book to our beloved colleague lou and his endur- Verónica Velasquez Sánchez-hidalgo, and to car- ing legacy at the museum. Finally, we wish to thank men arellano (tarma Quechua), Warren cook (Pa- Barbara and James Block for their support of the ex- munkey), Uriel Orellana (chortí Maya), and car- hibition Born of Clay, and Dr. Richard Mansfield for los Quiroz (Muchik) for their contributions to our his generous donation of Southwest pottery to our knowledge of our collections. John haworth (cher- collections. okee), director of the NMaI’s exhibition space in lower Manhattan, contributed in countless ways to —Kevin Gover (Pawnee) the success of Born of Clay. Director, National Museum of the American Indian Machel Monenerkit (comanche) was the project manager for the exhibition.
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