Bobby Silas #101724

$300.00

Bobby specializes in recreating ancestral, prehistoric, and historic Hopi and Zuni pottery. I had asked if he could make a ladle, and this turned out beautifully. His description is so thorough and fascinating:

“This ladle starting from the hand has turkey tracks representing the spiritual bird messengers. The lines represent rows of corn. The inside is the turkey track again, the swirls that are crooked together represent two clouds coming together to make it rain (also known to many as rain crooks). The old ones say that the black and red clouds come together because they are fighting to make it rain. . When this happens, they can make big storms. The black on four sides represents clods coming from these directions. And the dots around the edge represent the seeds we are going to plant, so we are asking in prayer to let our corn grow abundantly.”

Bobby did an outdoor wood pit firing (reduction firing) to achieve the texture and feel of the Anasazi historic work.

2” high by 10” long

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Bobby Silas

Hopi – Tewa

Born in 1987, Bobby Silas was taught potting by a member of the Navasie family. Bobby has been potting only four years and is intent on reviving Sikyatki pottery using local clay, tools and variations of the ancient designs. Bobby says his focus is to revive the Siktayki pottery of 1100-1600. In the last few years, Bobby has revived the Siktayki method of firing using lignite coal, which he acquires near First Mesa at Hopi. This technique allows the clay to burn at a higher temperature and burn longer. All of his work is hand-coiled, painted with native clay slips, and a bee-weed plant variant. Bobby has made it clear that he is an artist who is drawn to the past and wants to make his pottery same way his ancestors did. He has gone to the museum in Flagstaff and the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe. That gave him access to old pieces of Zuni and Hopi pottery.

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