Photograph by Addison Doty. Copyright 2008 School for Advanced Research.
"Gifts From Mother Earth"
Date: 2001
Artist or Maker: Stella Teller (b. 1929)
Dimensions:
Overall: 34.3 x 40.6 x 40.6 cm (13 1/2 x 16 x 16 in.)
Medium: clay | paints | wood | stone | turquoise | string | yucca
Credit Line: Gift of the artist, 2001.
Object Number: SAR.2001-12-1
Not on view
In the middle is a figure of Mother Earth who is rising out of a mound of clay. She is the largest of the figures and holds a finished clay pot with micaceous slip and a ladle resting inside.
To her right is a kneeling male figure that is collecting clay. He is carrying the clay in a bag slung over his right shoulder.
Moving counter-clockwise, the next figure is a kneeling female, who is grinding up clay and preparing it for use. To her left sits a gray pail with the raw clay inside.
Next are two seated female figures that share a base. The first is coiling clay and the next is polishing a white pot with a stone. Between them sits a smaller figure that is cradling a child.
On the next base, a female figure is sitting at a table and grinding up natural pigments in order to create slips for the pots. Also on her table is an upside-down pot with two yucca brushes. To her right is a large white pot that has two necks--a wedding vase, with gray-blue trim and a light blue, tan, and reddish brown design encircling its middle. In front of her are a medium sized pot and a smaller pot. Both pots are white, dark brown, and reddish brown, while the larger vessel also has light reddish brown coloring. The insides of these pots are undecorated. To the left of this female figure is a pile of dung that will be used to fire the pottery.
All six of these figures are singing and wearing turquoise necklaces. They are all colored with blue gray, light tan, reddish brown, and white. The soles of the second, third, and fifth smaller figurines are a very dark blackish-brown. This color does not occur anywhere else in this piece except for the table of the fifth small figurine. (Note: the 'smaller figurines" are all the main figures except Mother Earth). All of the smaller figurines wear a light tan sash or belt around their middle. These sashes each have different designs in light blue, reddish brown, and gray blue. The females, excluding Mother Earth, are wearing blue gray dresses (mantas) that go over their right shoulders and under their left arms. Underneath, they are wearing white long-sleeved shirts. The male is wearing a pair of blue gray pants with a white long-sleeved shirt that has a reddish brown design on the back.
Mother Earth wears no clothes except a white blanket. This blanket has a strip of tan running along the two shorter edges. These strips have identical designs in light blue, gray blue, and red brown. In her hair, she has two feathers made of clay and two strings of turquoise. Her hair is long and runs almost the width of the blanket. Its cut is symmetrical and resembles and inverted staircase.
Throughout the piece, it appears as though all the white surfaces were painted on first, polished, and then the other colors were added, which were not polished. Orange boots with black band at sole, white soles.
Tribal Collection Review RemarksAccording to the participants in the Isleta collection review visit May 2 3, 2022 (Events Record “Collection Review: Isleta Collection Review 2"): The artist. Stella Teller, has a replica of this piece in her personal collection. She made that one first, but it cracked during the firing. She then made another which is the one in the IARC collection.
In Collection(s)
Bibliography:
A Peculiar Alchemy
- Pg. 147
- Fig. N/A
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