Earth and Fire: Pueblo Pottery and the Spirit of the Land (Ancient Americas)

In the high desert of the American Southwest, clay isn’t just a material — it’s a memory. Pueblo pottery traditions trace back over a thousand years, rooted in the daily, the ceremonial, and the elemental.

Among the most celebrated forms is black-on-black ware, pioneered by potters such as Maria Martinez of San Ildefonso Pueblo. These vessels, with their gleaming black finish and matte designs, are made through an intimate process: hand-coiling, burnishing with smooth stones, decorating with slips, and firing in open pits with smothered flames to turn red clay black.

Each step is an offering. Every pot reflects a lineage — of grandmothers, landscapes, prayers. Designs often echo water, wind, and sky. Patterns are more than decoration; they are symbolic maps of culture and survival.

What stands out in Pueblo ceramics is their connection to place. The clay is dug from local land. The temper is often volcanic ash. The process follows the rhythm of the seasons. It is pottery that emerges from and returns to earth.

At Mayfield Studios, we honour this grounded, respectful approach to making. We encourage makers to build slowly, to listen to their material, and to consider the story embedded in every surface.

Check out Studio  Nioka’s Pit Firing and Picnic Experience to learn how ancient firing techniques still influence modern studio practice.

Next in Clay Lore - Shoji Hamada - the potter who stayed grounded. (Early 20th-century Japan)