Black-on-black ware

Black-on-black ware is a 20th and 21st-century pottery tradition developed by Puebloan Native American ceramic artists in Northern New Mexico.

Pueblo black-on-black ware of the past century is produced with a smooth surface, with the designs applied through selective burnishing or the application of refractory slip.

The artists of Kha'po Owingeh (Tewa: [xɑ̀ʔp’òː ʔówîŋgè]), also called Santa Clara Pueblo, and of P'ohwhóge Owingeh (Tewa: [p’òhxʷógè ʔówîŋgè]), also known as San Ildefonso Pueblo, have been making traditional blackware (reduction-fired earthenware) for many years using a coarse-grained clay body decorated with deeply incised or excised designs.

[5] Black-on-black ware is produced with a smooth surface, with the designs applied through selective burnishing or the application of refractory slip.

[10] In 1910, María Poveka Martinez and her husband Julián of P'ohwhóge Owingeh are credited with originating a non-incised, smooth-surfaced polished-black on matte-black technique.

By 1918 they had perfected the technique producing black-on-black surface ornamentation, created by selectively burnishing and polishing specific areas of the pot.

[10][11] By 1925, Martinez' pots were in demand, and selling for prices that benefited the pueblo by enabling new houses to be built and farming equipment to be purchased.

[12] His son, Tony Da (1940–2008) produced work that used sgraffito etching, and initiated a technique to selective black-on-black and sienna coloration on the same vessel.

[14] Rose Cata Gonzales (1900–1989) was known for her polished blackware as well as black-on-black pottery, and is credited for innovating a deeply carved style in the 1930s.

Tse-pé and his wife Jennifer have worked collaboratively for years gathering and cleaning clay, making, polishing and firing pots.

Some of her work was produced in micaceous clay, but it was making polished blackware, and later carved black-on-black ware where she excelled.

She learned from her family the importance of keeping true to tradition working with specific designs and their meanings, digging local clay and open-flame firing techniques.

[26] Garcia cites the women artists in her family as her role models from whom she learned everything from digging and cleaning and tempering clay to building pots, ornamentation, and firing techniques.

Their history wasn't recorded in books – they designed it on their vessels...detailing everything from different plants and animals in the area to cultural events and local stories.

"[12] Nancy Youngblood (born 1955) is mainly known for her deeply carved, ribbed sculptural vessels in blackware and redware, however she also produces some black-on-black ware.

[12] Toni Roller (born 1935) is a granddaughter of Sara Fina Tafoya has been a guardian of the Santa Clara cultural traditions throughout her life as an artist.

[12] Hopi–Tewa potter Helen Naha (Feather Woman, 1922–1993) of the village of Polacca, south of First Mesa (Hopi: Wàlpi), produced black-on-black ware in addition to other styles.

[1] Harrison Begay Jr. (born 1961), a Navajo artist who is part Hopi, Jemez and Zuni learned black-on-black techniques from his wife and her family who are from Santa Clara Pueblo.

[36] As a tribute to María Martinez and to Northern New Mexico's car culture, Rose Bean Simpson, a contemporary sculptor and second-generation Santa Clara Pueblo ceramic artist, created a museum installation titled Maria, that included a 1985 Chevy El Camino hot-rod custom-painted with traditional black-on-black motifs.