In this lesson you will:
The lecture below was given by Alan Jim, a Navajo man who teaches pottery at Greyhills Academy High School in Tuba City. Read his lecture as an introduction to Navajo philosophy.
"There are two versions about the history of Navajo pottery, just like you hear two versions about how the Navajo came to be. They say that we came from Lake Athabasca and followed the mountain ranges down to here. That is the archaeologists' version. And then you hear the Navajo oral history which says that the Navajo came from Mother Earth -- the emergence story. What I want to talk about is the oral story of Navajo pottery that comes from a book called Navajo Pottery. It says that the Hero Twins, the children of First Man and First Woman, were given the responsibility of watching the dam that held back the water and the irrigation ditches that they had back then, against attack by the Pueblo people. And as they were watching and playing with the mud which actually was clay, one of the Hero Twins fashioned a plate, then a bowl and a dipper. (This was taken from research done by a man called Haile going way back who took down the oral history at that time.) The other Hero Twin fashioned a wicker water bottle. So this is the oral history of where pottery came from.
"Now this is just a little background. Today, the archaeologists say that we borrowed pottery making from the Pueblo people, just as they say that we learned the weaving from them. But the Navajo people say that the Spiderwoman taught us weaving. So this is a conflict that you might want to discuss with your students.
"One of the things that you will find in art, and some of you might have experienced this, is that once you have made the piece, you were really hard on yourself. 'Boy, I don't know, this is a pretty ugly pot here.' But the Navajo view the pot as being more than a physical shape that comes to us. There are certain responsibilities that go along with making the pot, certain things that go along with this pot. There is a relationship between the artist and his or her pot--and some of you may have felt this while you were working with this clay.
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Do you remember when you were a little kid and it rained and you went out and stepped in this mud, and your mother said, 'Get out of there. You are all muddy.' You'd come home and say, 'Look Mom, I've got a mud pack all over my face.' Some of you probably were reminded by the smell of a time when you were young and there was a favorite swimming hole and it brought back that really good feeling. Also, this is a sense of connection with Mother Earth. We've got a part of her and we did something really sacred. The Navajos, their philosophy about creation.
"I recently took my upper division students to a couple who are Navajo potters up near Cow Springs, Silas Claw and his wife Bertha. And he told us some of the things that Navajo people talk about with their pottery. He said that to be able to get a piece of dirt and to shape it into something is sacred. To have a thought and make it into a creation is almost like how a baby is formed and develops inside its mother. It is almost nothing, then the womb starts to bring forth this life. So, you too, as creator, make something out of nothing and that is very sacred. So, I want you to think about pottery in this sense. And so as we go through this process of creating pottery they say that we go through a creation that is both male and female. The way I was told is that when we take clay we want to give a little something back to Mother Earth for this precious gift of the clay. Some of the things we can do is bless ourselves down, a prayer or a song is offered. The objects to be used are blessed. One of the things that is offered as a gift to that area.
"The clay then is in a rock hard form. When you find the clay it is kind of like finding yourself and developing yourself. Silas said that sometimes when they find the clay, it isn't ready to form. They have to work with the clay, have to add things to it, have to take things from it. After they crush it they pass it through a filtering system. It is kind of like a cleansing process. It gives you a chance to reevaluate yourself: 'Well, I don't need this, I don't need that part of my life.' Clay is the same way with all the impurities. What we might need to do--and what Silas said--is he went over to the highway construction yard and got some really fine black cinder and added it to the clay and that is what gave the clay the body to stand up. So this is probably what is needed for this clay. It is what in ceramics is called grog. You will see that some Navajo people get little pieces of pottery and add to their clay. That helps the clay to get more sticky and strengthens the body. So, we filter out all the impurities and add what is needed for strength, as we do in our lives.
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"The next thing they do is they wet the clay down. When you work with the clay and you have a lump of clay -- just as a painter would do with a blank piece of canvas -- in your mind just millions and millions of electrodes are firing off. We call it brainstorming. In the Navajo way we say that part of the creation is inside, in our mind, it is the imagination. It is the female part of you and given to you by the creator. It is a gift. So, once you have figured out what you are going to make, what do you do? You roll out the clay or you pinch it or coil it. Once you have begun that process we say that is the male part of creativity. Male and female always. You're doing the male part when you make the pots. Now, one thing you have to find is that it is you and the clay. Some of you may have gotten the clay too wet. What happens when clay gets too wet? It gets like a wet noodle. You stand it up and it flops around. Just kind of flops around. Or, if your clay gets too dry, it becomes too stiff to work, it cracks, we become frustrated. But, again, you have to find that balance in life. Once you get that balance and allow the clay to work with you, then the beauty starts, the creation happens. As I have watched Navajo potters, they really take their time once they set one coil on there, checking all the way around, making sure it is smoothed out, making sure the clay is the same thickness all around, not too thick, not too thin, that it is nice and consistent. So, again, that reflects on life. finding that fine line of balance.
"Everything is done the way it was taught about life -- a life that has smoothness. It is the same way in pottery -- once you find that smoothness, you have harmony and balance. The offering of prayers and songs make life a little bit easier, especially when someone is challenging you.
"If you have done everything that was told to you to achieve balance, then the true test of life is the process that in pottery we call firing. Some of my students will say, 'When are we going to burn our pots, or bake our pots?' The proper terminology is 'firing.' So firing is the test whether you have walked in balance with your clay. If you have walked in balance with it, everything is consistent; it is just great. The test is the firing; the pot should come out just beautiful. A lot of you have gone to the trading post and seen that most of the Southwest people make pots. I'm going to pass this pot around. Feel the thickness, the smooth surface, no cracks. Once we have gone through the firing, we know that we can withstand the test--that your virtues are intact.
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"Here, in the pot, in the Navajo way, they say that four of the elements water, earth, fire and air are in the firing. Water and earth in the clay, air and fire in the firing. All four are important to the creation of the pot. So, if you look, you may see that some pots are blessed by the Creator and you will get these black marks which are called by the Navajo "fireclouds".
So they say this is a very sacred blessing. Hopefully, some of you will be blessed with these marks on your pot. I want you to experience the wholeness of what pottery has to offer you, teaching about life. You, in that sacred manner. Silas once told us during the time we visited him, he said one of the things potters do, if you have your pieces out and they are still in production, if someone comes to your door and knocks, they are not to see your pots. You must put them all away, but once they are inside, visiting, get a piece of the wet clay and bless them. Give them a piece of Mother Earth. So, even the potter holds this in reverence, with sincerity. This is just a little something that I wanted you to have before we go outside to test your pots, to fire them.
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