Well known throughout the
Pueblo Pottery world as one-of-the-best, Mark Tahbo continues
to create innovative and inspiring works of art through his traditional
clay mediums. Never afraid of pushing the envelope, Mark continues
to try new approaches and themes in pottery making.
His anchor and influence is
his cultural heritage - rich in tradition. He endeavors to remain
close to his ancestors through expressing his love and thanks
for their teachings with every piece.
He is not limited in his imaginative
work, but always remains close to his roots. His potteries nearly
always tell a story and convey a moral or message through symbols.
Even the lack of "design" is a design all its own -
saying something about time, people, and place.
Mark Tahbo does not use any
additional clay slip to polish his pots, but he re-wets the body
of the piece and then use a stone to burnish it. This is the
process that creates the high shine on his work. His bowls are
fired in a traditional outdoor firing, using sheep manure and
old pottery shards as part of the process.
His work is featured in nearly
every major gallery and museum featuring Pueblo pottery. He appears
in Gregory Schaff's publication, Hopi-Tewa Pottery: 500 Artist
Biographies (p. 158), as well as Rick Dillingham's Fourteen
Families in Pueblo Pottery (p. 8), and Jerry & Lois Jacka's
Art of the Hopi (p. 70).
He has taken numerous ribbons,
inlcuding first place and best of show, at major venues like
the Santa Fe Indian Market and the Heard Museum's Annual Indian
Fair and Market, as well as others.
This particular piece represents
a new design for Mark, who, after studying the old Nampeyo themes,
discovered a clown motif very similar to the koshare clowns.
Here you can see the male
and female clowns opposite one another. She wears rosy cheeks
and a maiden's kilt, while he wears a straight face and a men's
kilt. Stylized "horns" reach out from the top of the
heads, and subtle clown faces appear beside each male and female.
Their legs can be seen beneath them, while birds fly above the
rim.
This is truly an innovation,
and we're excited about the work that Mark is doing.