Santa Clara Pueblo Pottery By Jo Povi "Linda Askan"

Late 20th/Early 21st Century 
Size: 2.5" H x 3.25" D x 1.5" Handle
Black on Black Pottery with handle and Geometric Deisgns
From a Private Colorado Collection
Excellent Condition

Linda Askan (1954-) was born into the Summer Clan at Santa Clara Pueblo as the daughter of Marie and Andy Askan (Dineh). Her Tewa name, given by Adelaide Sisneros (her grandmother) is Jo Povi, meaning "Cactus Flower." Linda attended the Institute of American Indian Arts but worked as a Respiratory Therapy Technician before deciding to become a full-time potter.

As a child she played with broken pieces of clay that were given to her by her mother and grandmother. Then she started polishing the broken pieces with a stone. Putting her hands in the clay and creating something was natural after that. "We would fire together at my grandparents' corral," she remembers. The traditional method requires firing outside over an open fire, using cottonwood, piñon pine and dry horse manure for fuel. She says, "We experience firing visually: paying attention to the fire, making sure it's evenly burning, being aware the whole time."

As generations of Pueblo potters have done before her, Linda digs her clay in the hills, coils the shapes by hand (pinches the miniatures), and creates black-on-black and red polychrome pots, plates, wedding vases, figures and animals. Her work is elegantly carved and painted in detail. She likes to create pieces that show her reverence for life and reflect her sense of whimsy. Thankfully, the clay that chooses to work with her cooperates in that.