Selected Works from the Curators

Diego Romero and Nathan Begaye
Two Native American Contemporary Potters

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Diego Romero
Chongo Brothers, American Highway Series, 1995

The clouds in the sky are an adaption of the traditional way of depicting rain clouds on Cochiti pottery. The interlocking scroll border is inspired by borders on prehistoric pottery of the American Southwest and the drinking figures are Mimbres like. The archaeological remains below the ground include pots, and a human buried with a bowl over the head, in the style of Mimbres burials.

This jar is directly influenced by a Mimbres pot Begaye saw during the planning for the To Touch The Past exhibition. On one side, Begaye has reproduced a Mimbres scene and on other areas, he painted traditional Hopi symbols of fertility. The triangle design on the sides of the jar shows the symbols of fertility by using the interlocking forms in the traditional colors of green (male) and red (female).