Jessie C. Garcia

Native American
(1910–1999)

Jar
1982

Earthenware
7.25 x 8.5 x 8.5 in. (18.415 x 21.59 x 21.59 cm)
Gift of the Nora Eccles Treadwell Foundation
1984.1329

Like many of the pieces created by artists of indigenous descent, this Jar was created using the coil technique: thin strips of clay were layered one over the other and then pinched together to form the jar. Garcia’s pots are unique in that she did not use her fingers to pinch and smooth out the clay. Instead she employed a triangle-shaped stamp to give the jar its sharp-relief ridges and create the distinctive basket-weave texture. The eggshell-white color is associated with the Acoma Pueblo, who have sometimes been called “the people of the white rock.”

Located southwest of Albuquerque, the Acoma Pueblo is thought to be one of the oldest continually inhabited landscapes within the borders of the modern United States. Acoma potters view their craft as a way of maintaining ties to ancestors who have lived in the region for more than a thousand years. Along with Marie Z. Chino and Lucy M. Lewis, Garcia led a revival of Ancestral Puebloan pottery styles among the modern Acoma people between 1950 and 1970.

Danielle Stewart

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This object was included in the following exhibitions:

• Ceramic Case 11: Women, White, and Porcelain (Left and Right Sides) , 8/21/2012 - 5/8/2014
• Collecting on the Edge - Ceramics Southwest , 9/15/2018 - 5/4/2019
• Better Days 2020: Native American Pottery , 5/25/2019 - 12/19/2020
• Unearthed , 8/23/2022 - 5/14/2023

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