Jar

Inscriptions

Signed, incised in surface, on bottom: Alice / Cling

Label

Ceramics, unlike rugs, are not well known as reflections of Navajo visual culture, and this oversight is reflected in the Hood Museum’s collection. The two artworks here reveal ways in which Navajo ceramics have changed over time. The earlier terracotta cup was made for functional use. In her more recent jar, Alice Cling, a master of Navajo pottery, uses meticulous hand-burnishing to create a high-gloss finish. Cling’s work has been essential to the shift in the classification of Navajo pottery from folk art to fine art.

From the 2022 exhibition Unbroken: Native American Ceramics, Sculpture, and Design, curated by Dillen Peace '19, Native American Art Intern and Sháńdíín Brown '20, Native American Art Intern

Course History

ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Sienna Craig, Winter 2022

Writing Program 5.24, Photographic Representations, Amanda Wetsel, Winter 2023

Writing Program 5.25, Photographic Representations, Amanda Wetsel, Winter 2023

Exhibition History

Unbroken: Native American Ceramics, Sculpture, and Design, Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 22, 2022-March 12, 2023.

Provenance

The artist; Andrea Fisher Fine Pottery, Santa Fe, New Mexico; sold to present collection, 2007.

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Subjects