Jar
Elsie Routzen, American, Acoma Pueblo (Aco-Mah), 1934 - 2002
Acoma Pueblo (Aco-Mah)
Southwest
collected in 1970s-1980s
Terracotta with slip decoration
Overall: 7 3/16 × 7 3/16 × 7 5/16 in. (18.2 × 18.2 × 18.5 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Putnam W. Blogett, Class of 1953, Tuck 1961
2013.91.3
Geography
Place Made: Acoma Pueblo, United States, North America
Period
20th century
Object Name
Pottery
Research Area
Native American
Native American: Southwest
On view
Inscriptions
Signed, on the bottom, E.P. Routzen / Acoma N.M.
Label
Inspired by a long history of women potters working in her community, Elsie Routzen modeled this terracotta jar based on a traditional form. The design portrays abstracted spinach leaves, a vitamin-rich, leafy green vegetable. To create the darker decoration, Routzen ground up spinach leaves and used them as an artistic material. Spinach represents itself in an abstracted form. With spinach as material and decoration, Routzen demonstrates the close connections and interdependence between art, food, and water.
From the 2023 exhibition Liquidity: Art, Commodities, and Water, curated by Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art
Course History
First Year Student Enrichment Program - Cultures, Identities and Belongings, Francine A'Ness, Summer 2023
Anthropology 55.01, Anthropology of Global Health, Anne Sosin, Fall 2023
Anthropology 55.01, Anthropology of Global Health, Anne Sosin, Fall 2023
Art History 40.01, American Art and Identity, Mary Coffey, Fall 2023
Creative Writing 10.02, Writing and Reading Fiction, Katherine Crouch, Fall 2023
Geography 11.01, Qualitative Methods, Emma Colven, Fall 2023
Geography 2.01, Introduction to Human Geography, Coleen Fox, Fall 2023
Geography 31.01, Postcolonial Geographies, Erin Collins, Fall 2023
English 30.01, African and African American Studies 34.01, Early Black American LIterature, Michael Chaney, Winter 2024
Writing 5.06, Image and Text, Becky Clark, Winter 2024
Writing 5.07, Image and Text, Becky Clark, Winter 2024
Exhibition History
Liquidity: Art, Commodities, and Water, Israel Sack Gallery and the Rush Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 29, 2023-November 24, 2024.
Provenance
Collected by Putnam W. Blodgett (1931-2020), Lyme, New Hampshire, about 1970s-1980s; given to present collection, 2013.
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