To the east, the clouds are merging together, stretching, climbing, expanding overhead. And not a moment too soon: There is a fire on the mountain.
It was probably caused by a lightning strike during our last real storm many days ago; such events are common here, and its location makes it unlikely that it was ignited by human hands. It’s likely been smoldering for days, below the surface of the brush, and only this morning managed to catch enough air to send a smoke plume skyward. Wings has, of course, already reported it to the relevant Pueblo authorities, who have a firefighting team with the skills to monitor and even fight it, if it should become necessary.
The forecast predicts no until rain tomorrow and Sunday, but it looks as though the skies might have other ideas. If so, it will be welcome for more reasons than one. Despite a relatively wet winter and spring, this place still suffers through a record drought, and the land is a tinderbox. Our delayed monsoon season has only exacerbated conditions. We need not merely hints, not hopes and promises unfulfilled, of summer’s weather gifts; we need a gathering of the elements, of the cloudbursts and rainbows here to meet the parched and ashy soil.
It’s long past time for a union of earth and water and light.
There are many reasons why, in our cultures, the language of abundance so often crosses the lines between elemental spirits and human interactions. There is powerful symbolism in the precursors of birth: of unions and fertility, of the waters the draw the plants from the earth and the waters in which we ourselves are born. So it should come as no surprise that such imagery is a fundamental part of our lifeways and our art, and that the two in many instances are inseparable from each other.
Today’s featured works are an example of precisely these phenomena, a pair of wedding vases by one of the Pueblo’s rising artists, Olivia Martinez, and wrought in her own distinctive style that magnifies the symbolism inherent in her work. We begin with the larger one shown abovec, our own personal favorite (so much so that, instead of being consigned to a shelf in studio or gallery, it sits atop a cabinet in our home next to our own wedding vase, one made by the same artist). From its description in the Other Artists: Pottery gallery here on the site:
Water is life, and breath, and love. Olivia Martinez (Taos Pueblo) honors them all with this traditional wedding vase. Made of hand-coiled local micaceous clay, it arises out of a large round bowl nearly spherical in shape, with a gracefully angled ridge around its widest point that gives the impression of a lid. From the bowl emerge twin spouts, each flowing upward into a narrow inner lip that arcs over the top, entwined in a tall braid to represent the union of spirits in marriage. The entire vase stands 14.5″ high; it measures 9″ across the spouts at the widest point; and the bowl is 7″ across at its widest point (dimensions approximate).
Micaceous clay
$775 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Size, weight, and fragility require special handling; extra shipping charges apply
Around the same time that Olivia created the vase shown above, she also fashioned a somewhat smaller, more modest version: a little less clay, a little less sculpted detail, but distinctively hers nonetheless, with the same signature braided handle that is her personal signifier of unity. From its description in the same gallery:
Olivia Martinez (Taos Pueblo) infuses this traditional micaceous wedding vase with motifs of unity and love. The vase is made in the old way, hand-coiled, lightly polished, and fired to a subtle sheen. The bowl is slightly sculpted, a barely-definable ridge accenting its widest point; each spout emerges gracefully from the bowl, one angled upward at either side, each with a flowing outer lip and an inner lip that extends upward into a braided handle, symbolizing spirits united and intertwined. The entire vase stands 9.5″ high; it measures 7-3/8″ across the spouts at the widest point; and the bowl is 5″ across at its widest point (dimensions approximate).
Micaceous clay
$575 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Size, weight, and fragility require special handling; extra shipping charges apply
Wedding vases serve a practical purpose in our cultures, and a ceremonial one, too, but to the outside world, they are striking collector’s items, a hand-made signifier of the distinctive beauty of our ways.
And, in a season such as this, they serve as a reminder, too, of the elements that create the conditions for abundance: a union of earth and water and light, yes, but of love and spirit and medicine, too.
That’s a powerful kind of beauty.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2019; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
