Santo Domingo Pueblo Pottery By Helen Bird

Late 20th Century

11.1875" H x 11.5" D

Hand Built Polychrome Pot and Painted with Mineral Slips in Apricot Background with Painted Black and Orange Colors with Bird and Flower Motifs 

Excellent Condition 

Helen Bird is a celebrated Native American potter from Santo Domingo Pueblo (also known as Kewa Pueblo), located south of Santa Fe in northern New Mexico. She is widely recognized for her role in revitalizing traditional pottery-making at the pueblo during the 1990s, a time when Santo Domingo was more renowned for jewelry than ceramics. Bird's work embodies the pueblo's longstanding tradition of hand-coiled, stone-polished pottery fired in outdoor pits, featuring bold, geometric designs inspired by ancient motifs. Due to religious restrictions, her pieces avoid representations of human figures or sacred symbols, instead incorporating common elements like birds, flowers, roadrunners, and simple geometrics with thick, well-defined lines.