Grounded in Clay is a collaborative exhibit curated by the Pueblo Pottery Collective and organized by the School for Advanced Research and the Vilcek Foundation.
EXHIBITION TOUR
MAR 21 – SEPT 14, 2025
Saint Louis Art Museum
Saint Louis, Missouri
MAR 2026 – FEB 2027
INDIAN PUEBLO CULTURAL CENTER
ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO
An impressive survey of more than 100 pieces of historic Pueblo pottery, Grounded in Clay is remarkable for the fact that its content has been selected by Pueblo community members. Rather than relying on Anglo-American art historical interpretations, this book foreground Native American voices and perspectives. More than 60 participants from 21 Pueblo communities in the Southwest – among them potters and other artists, as well as writers, curators and community leaders – chose one or two pieces from the collections of the Indian Arts Research Center at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the Vilcek Collection in New York. They were then given the freedom to express their thoughts in whichever written form they wished, prose or poem. Their lively, varied contributions reveal the pottery to be not only a utilitarian art form but also a powerfully intangible element that sits at the heart of Pueblo cultures. With magnificent photography throughout, Grounded in Clay showcases the extraordinary history and beauty of Pueblo pottery while bringing to life the complex narratives and stories of this most essential of Native American arts.
GROUNDED IN CLAY IN THE WILD
The Met’s Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery (on through June 4/24) is a must-see - it showcases not only beautiful pottery but a different curatorial approach: it was developed by the Pueblo Pottery Collective, nearly 60 Pueblo community curators from the 21 Pueblo tribes in the US Southwest who each selected 1-2 works for the exhibition & wrote the related text (I include the curator for each piece in square brackets). I don’t have room here for the full stories of these pieces - more info is at groundedinclay.org. Other exhibition works are on view vilcekfoundation in NYC. The exhibition will travel next to mfahouston & then stlartmuseum.
📷 1 Exhibition entrance & Jar, Lonnie Vigil (Nambé, b. 1949), 1995 [Nora Naranjo Morse (Kha’p’o Owingeh/Santa Clara), describes Vigil’s process & the call of the clay]
📷 2 Jar, Mogollon artist, c. 1050-1300 [Tara Gatewood (Isleta/Diné) - vessel as a doorway to connect with those who came before, with designs echoed in modern pots]
📷 3 Bowl, Precontact Pueblo artist, c. 1150-1250 [LeeAndrea Bernal Trujillo (Taos), relates bowl to a pottery sherd found near her home]
📷 4 Bean pot with lid, Lorencita Pino (Tesuque, 1899-1986), 1963 [Mark Mitchell (Tesuque), grandson of artist, saw her make similar pieces]
📷 5 Figure of woman with bowl, Jeralyn Lujan Lucero (Taos), 1995 [Dr. Christina M. Castro (Taos, Jemez, Chicana), relative of artist, piece embodies spirit of Taos Pueblo women]
📷 6 Mono figure, Cochiti Pueblo artist, c. 1900 [Mateo Romero (Cochiti)]
📷 7 Storage jar, Acoma Pueblo artist, c. 1880 [Brian D. Vallo (Acoma), describes likely use & classic Acoma designs]
📷 8 Jar, Dextra Quotskuyva Nampeyo (Tewa/Hopi, 1928-2019), 1980 [Michael Namingha (Ohkay Owingeh-Hopi)]
📷 9 Nahohai Tribute Pot, by 6 Zuni & Hopi potters, 2016 [Timothy Edaakie (Zuni, 1974-2020), 1 of 6 potters, honours Randy Nahohai, Zuni potter who revived Zuni pottery tradition]
📷 10 Yupkoyvi (The Place Beyond the Horizon), Michael Namingha (Ohkay Owingeh-Hopi, b. 1977), 2023 - Fajada Butte, Chaco Canyon, sacred mountain & home to Chacoan Sun Dagger calendar
All 📷 imagesofantiquity / theflowoftravel (sandra.flow)
Apr 25
![The Met’s Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery (on through June 4/24) is a must-see - it showcases not only beautiful pottery but a different curatorial approach: it was developed by the Pueblo Pottery Collective, nearly 60 Pueblo community curators from the 21 Pueblo tribes in the US Southwest who each selected 1-2 works for the exhibition & wrote the related text (I include the curator for each piece in square brackets). I don’t have room here for the full stories of these pieces - more info is at groundedinclay.org. Other exhibition works are on view vilcekfoundation in NYC. The exhibition will travel next to mfahouston & then stlartmuseum.
📷 1 Exhibition entrance & Jar, Lonnie Vigil (Nambé, b. 1949), 1995 [Nora Naranjo Morse (Kha’p’o Owingeh/Santa Clara), describes Vigil’s process & the call of the clay]
📷 2 Jar, Mogollon artist, c. 1050-1300 [Tara Gatewood (Isleta/Diné) - vessel as a doorway to connect with those who came before, with designs echoed in modern pots]
📷 3 Bowl, Precontact Pueblo artist, c. 1150-1250 [LeeAndrea Bernal Trujillo (Taos), relates bowl to a pottery sherd found near her home]
📷 4 Bean pot with lid, Lorencita Pino (Tesuque, 1899-1986), 1963 [Mark Mitchell (Tesuque), grandson of artist, saw her make similar pieces]
📷 5 Figure of woman with bowl, Jeralyn Lujan Lucero (Taos), 1995 [Dr. Christina M. Castro (Taos, Jemez, Chicana), relative of artist, piece embodies spirit of Taos Pueblo women]
📷 6 Mono figure, Cochiti Pueblo artist, c. 1900 [Mateo Romero (Cochiti)]
📷 7 Storage jar, Acoma Pueblo artist, c. 1880 [Brian D. Vallo (Acoma), describes likely use & classic Acoma designs]
📷 8 Jar, Dextra Quotskuyva Nampeyo (Tewa/Hopi, 1928-2019), 1980 [Michael Namingha (Ohkay Owingeh-Hopi)]
📷 9 Nahohai Tribute Pot, by 6 Zuni & Hopi potters, 2016 [Timothy Edaakie (Zuni, 1974-2020), 1 of 6 potters, honours Randy Nahohai, Zuni potter who revived Zuni pottery tradition]
📷 10 Yupkoyvi (The Place Beyond the Horizon), Michael Namingha (Ohkay Owingeh-Hopi, b. 1977), 2023 - Fajada Butte, Chaco Canyon, sacred mountain & home to Chacoan Sun Dagger calendar
All 📷 imagesofantiquity / theflowoftravel (sandra.flow)](https://groundedinclay.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
These two landscapes (by Mateo Romero and Michael Namingha) are in the Grounded in Clay:The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery exhibition currently at the Met Museum through early June, 2024. Capturing these two distinct landscapes of sacred and cultural significant to indigenous people “across generations and through breath, earth, and time”. The entire exhibit — and certainly both of these stunning painting — have deep connections to ancestral communities. Pueblo pottery is “an art form literally of land and place” — and it is good that these paintings were included in the show to strengthen this curatorial point.
Top: Romero (Cochiti b 1966) Tis Ping Owingeh #9 (Tewa for the Valley of Flint Mountain), oil on canvas, 2023; and
Lower: Naminghe (Ohkay Owingeh-Hopi b1977) Yupkauvi (The Place Beyond the Horizon) silkscreen enamel and hand-gathered sand on panel, 2023
The exhibit broke new ground at the Met, given that this is the first community-based curated show (by the Pueblo Pottery Collective). Kudos to Met’s Associate Curator Patricia Marroquin Norby and the American Wing — and the donors, lenders like SAR and Vilcek Foundation, and Met’s leadership — for bringing this exhibit to life.
#mateoromero
#patriciamarroquinnorby
#michaelnamingha
#landscapepainting
#pueblopotterycollective
metmuseum
#americanwingatthemet
#schoolofadvancedresearch
#vilcekfoundation
#groundedinclaythespiritofpueblopottery
#groundedinclay
Oct 7
Come on, #MetropolitanMuseum, you think I’m made out of eyeballs? This is #WilliamHJohnson in “The #HarlemRenaissance and Transatlantic Modernism;” #SheilaHicks, #OlgadeAmaral, and an unknown 16th-century Inca weaver in “ #WeavingAbstraction in Ancient and Modern Art;” and two late 19th-century Pueblo jars by #Arroh-a-och and someone from #AcomaPueblo, in “#GroundedinClay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery.” Whew!
Mar 21
Caught up on metmuseum exhibitions last week, including “Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery,” which was curated by the Pueblo Pottery Collective, a group that includes sixty individual members of diverse ages, backgrounds, and professions, who represent twenty-one source communities.
“Pueblo Indian pottery embodies four main natural elements: earth, water, air, and fire. It is an art form literally of land and place and is one of America’s ancient Indigenous creative expressions.
Foregrounding Pueblo voices and aesthetics, Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery is the first community-curated Native American exhibition in the history of The Met. The effort features more than one hundred historical, modern, and contemporary clay works and offers a critical understanding of Pueblo pottery as community-based knowledge and personal experience.”
Selected works are the Indian Arts Research Center of the schoolforadvancedresearch and the vilcekfoundation
#ceramics #clay #pueblopottery #nativeamericanart #nativeamerican #nativeamericanpottery
#metropolitanmuseumofart #pueblopotterycollective #puebloceramics #claycommunity
#vilcekfoundation #indianartsresearchcenter #sar #museumexhibition #nativeamericanexhibition
#spiritofpueblo #groundedinclay #groundedinclaythespiritofpueblopottery #earth #air #water #fire
Jan 27
When Clay Becomes a Circuit Breaker for My Brain
There’s something about working with clay that does more than just spark dopamine—it untangles my neural pathways. As someone with ADHD, I can feel when my thoughts start stacking on top of each other instead of flowing. It’s like a ‘flare-up moment’ in my brain, usually at the end of a long day, when executive functioning fatigue kicks in.
But the moment I press my hands into clay—pinching a tiny bowl, shaping a mini house, or carving a coaster—something shifts. The texture, the movement, the creative synapses firing seem to give my prefrontal cortex a break. It’s like my brain finds an off-ramp from chaos and into calm.
It’s not just a hobby; it’s my anchor. The kind of grounding that feels almost addictive in the best way. And I’m so grateful I came back to it after studying ceramics all the way back in Year 12.
If you’ve ever felt this, tell me—what creative ritual helps your brain untangle?
#ADHDCreativity #NeurodivergentMind #GroundedInClay #ADHDBrain #ClayTherapy #CreativeFlow #SensoryRegulation #MindfulMaking #TactileTherapy #CeramicHealing
Mar 27
Ceramics on View Now: “Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery” metmuseum was curated by the Pueblo Pottery Collective, a group that includes sixty individual members of diverse ages, backgrounds, and professions, who represent twenty-one source communities. The exhibition is accompanied by a publication.
“Pueblo Indian pottery embodies four main natural elements: earth, water, air, and fire. It is an art form literally of land and place, and is one of America’s ancient Indigenous creative expressions.
Foregrounding Pueblo voices and aesthetics, Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery is the first community-curated Native American exhibition in the history of The Met. The effort features more than one hundred historical, modern, and contemporary clay works and offers a critical understanding of Pueblo pottery as community-based knowledge and personal experience.”
Selected works are the Indian Arts Research Center of the schoolforadvancedresearch and the vilcekfoundation
#ceramics #clay #pueblopottery #nativeamericanart #nativeamerican #nativeamericanpottery #metropolitanmuseumofart #pueblopotterycollective #puebloceramics #claycommunity #vilcekfoundation #indianartsresearchcenter #sar #museumexhibition #nativeamericanexhibition #spiritofpueblo #groundedinclay #groundedinclaythespiritofpueblopottery #earth #air #water #fire
Jan 6
It was nice to return home from work and travel to find this issue in print in my mailbox.
Also a good reminder of how and where this last month started, working on this assignment with newmexicomag, about the Grounded In Clay Exhibition opening tomorrow.
Thank you Diego Medina, Claudia Mitchell, Dominique Toya dominiquetoyacreations , Melissa Talachy Romero, Mateo Romero and Evonne Martinez for your time and the opportunity to meet you and your work and histories.
Thank you newmexicomag and jm_mccauley for the chance to do this story with you all.
Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery. The exhibition features works from the Vilcek Collection and from the Indian Arts Research Center at the School for Advanced Research (SAR). Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery opens July 31, 2022, at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture situated on the traditional lands of the Tewa people, O’gah’poh geh Owingeh (White Shell Water Place), or Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The exhibition was curated by the Pueblo Pottery Collective, a group of more than 60 Native American community members from the 22 Pueblo communities in the Southwest.
Grounded in Clay shifts traditional exhibition curation models, combining individual voices from Native communities where pots have been made and used for millennia into a uniquely Indigenous group narrative. The approach illuminates the complexities of Pueblo history and contemporary life through the curators’ lived experiences, redefining concepts of Native art, history, and beauty from within, confronting academically imposed narratives about Native life, and challenging stereotypes about Native peoples.
Following the exhibition at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery will travel through 2025, starting with a joint presentation in New York City by the Vilcek Foundation and the Metropolitan Museum of Art from July 13, 2023 to June 4, 2024.
#cover #newmexicotrue #storytelling #portrait #portraitphotography #onassignment #groundedinclay #newmexicomagazine
Jul 31
#groundedinclaythespiritofpueblopottery #themet #onlystepsaway
Mar 25
