Alice Cling is the daughter of Rose Williams, a ground-breaking potter from Tonalea in the Navajo (Dine’) Nation. Prior to her influence, Navajo pottery was essentially utilitarian with heavy pine pitch coating.Rose and Alice began the movement toward more refined and finished pottery forms, stimulated by a growing awareness of the market for fine Indian pottery. Whereas tourism, museums and widespread trading drove the pottery of the pueblos, Navajo pottery bloomed primarily under the influence of Alice Cling’s beautiful shapes and softly polished and fired pitch slips.The clay for Alice’s pots and those of her family including Susie Crank, Sue Williams and Lorraine Williams, comes from the secret deposits near Black Mesa. After being dug up and purified, it is tempered with sand and water, making it malleable.
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Tribal Artery is the periodic enewsletter blog of Aboriginals: Art of the First Person on behalf of its web sites at Native-PotteryLink, ZuniLink, TribalWorks and Native-JewelryLink. Thank you for joining us.
