Just at dawn, the full moon still sits golden and high in a soft purple sky, the west clouds passing over its face like a veil of smoke. As I write, what few clouds dot the southeast expanse have gone from gray to pink to brilliant coral, as the rays that herald Father Sun tell of his advance. On this day last week, we would be, unbeknownst to us then, preparing for several days and several inches of snow, and what seems now a bitter cold.
Today, the snow is mostly gone, the world green and bright, and sun and moon are free to do their work as spirits of the light.
Today’s featured work displays the effects of the light in the form of the flowers that are only now beginning to emerge from the earth — but more, it seems as though it embodies the light itself, a shimmering sheer gold surface beneath which rests a warm red glow.
We have spent this space in this month looking at the work of Taos Pueblo potter Camille Bernal, and today’s work is one that is classically, sensually beautiful. It did not start out as one of my favorites; it’s a more subtle design, not especially showy, but one that nevertheless works its way into your senses and suddenly you’ve found that it won’t let go. From its description in the Other Artists: Pottery gallery her eon the site:
This compact vase evokes one of the first heydays of modern Indian pottery. Fashioned in Art Deco style by Camille Bernal (Taos Pueblo), it’s hand-coiled of a a beautifully warm red clay, accented with a gentle pastel shade, hand-painted long-stemmed flowers arising delicately from the base and encircling the whole. Vase stands 7-1/8″ high by 4.5″ across at the widest point, with a 1-1/8″ opening at the lip (dimensions approximate). Side view shown at top.
Tewa clay; plant-based paints
$250 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Requires special handling; extra shipping charges apply
Now, having had some time to sit with this piece, to get to know it more intimately? Now it speaks to me in ways I haven’t fully deciphered even for myself.
At the most basic level, I love the way it melds the archetypal shape of the traditional Pueblo olla with the equally iconic form of a modern Art Deco piece (a style that is indeed “modern,” yet is itself nearly a century old now). With it, Camille has produced a timeless work that, like any classic, transcends genre and defies attempts at classification.
But the vagaries of the shape itself also have their own voice, and make themselves heard in subtle but insistent ways. Unlike ordinary non-Native vases of similar style, its sides are not straight and severe; rather, they are sinuously rounded, creating a stout and gently sloping body that gives the piece character and depth. The vase’s top is a masterwork in itself: gently rounded, angles soft and yet clearly defined, flowing seamlessly upward into the mouth of the olla. The mouth itself is a perfect circle, and Camille has edged the pale slip so perfectly that the warm red earth underneath appears as more than mere accent, hinting invitingly at hidden depths within.
And then there is the surface. Unlike most Taos Pueblo potters, Camille works largely in velvety red Tewa clay, rather than more flamboyant mica clay native to the Pueblo itself. It’s subtler, softer. Where the mica clay shines, sometimes with a sharp and brittle edge, the Tewa clay is more muted, understated: It glows, like the welcoming heat of a fire burned down to embers, rather than the raging early flames that keep one’s body at bay.
Because of Camille’s penchant for soft slips and delicate artwork, the red clay itself is visible mostly at the base . . . and in the vase’s interior. It rims the internal edge of the lip, inviting one to look inside, to feel its silken surface there. On the outside, it’s dressed modestly, in a pale slip just a shade or two off ivory, a dress that clings to every curve like a second skin. It’s as though the very light has decided to show itself, a fiery red spirit having wrapped itself in a soft gold blanket adorned with the very flowers it helps to grow, the better to allow the world to see and feel it safely, unblinded and unburnt.
Perhaps spring is at last fully here, although I suspect we will get a few more flurries before winter releases its grip entirely. In the meantime, Camille’s delicate vase embodies the magic of the gradually warming light, and holds the promise of summer to come.
~ Aji
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