Brent Benjamin The Barbara B. Taylor Director | Saint Louis Art Museum
Brent Benjamin The Barbara B. Taylor Director | Saint Louis Art Museum
An exhibition showcasing Pueblo pottery will be displayed at the Saint Louis Art Museum this spring. More than 100 clay works will be featured in "Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery," which opens on March 21 and continues until September 14. The exhibition is free to the public and will be held in Gary C. Werths and Richard Frimel Galleries 248 and 249.
Curated by the Pueblo Pottery Collective, and organized by the School for Advanced Research along with the Vilcek Foundation, this exhibition connects Pueblo ceramics with contemporary Indigenous knowledge. The Pueblo Pottery Collective comprises 60 members from various backgrounds, representing 21 Pueblo communities. Their insights into pots, potters, family rituals, ancestral materials, and daily use offer a grounded perspective on people and place.
The exhibition includes pottery from different eras, showcasing vessels and sculptures made using diverse forms, materials, and surface treatments. It features pieces from communities such as New Mexico’s Río Grande Pueblos, Ysleta del Sur in West Texas, and Arizona's Hopi tribe. These works come from renowned collections at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe and the Vilcek Foundation in New York.
"Grounded in Clay" complements recent installations of Southwestern ceramics at the museum, enhancing narratives about Indigenous art of the Southwest alongside exhibitions focusing on historic textiles and modern painting from that region.
The opening program on March 21 will feature artist Nora Naranjo Morse from Northern New Mexico. A series of additional programs will follow throughout the exhibition period. Details can be found at slam.org/events.
A catalogue accompanying the exhibition includes essays by each member of the Pueblo Pottery Collective.
This collaborative effort is curated by the Pueblo Pottery Collective, organized by the School for Advanced Research and the Vilcek Foundation, and hosted by SLAM. The School for Advanced Research was founded in 1907 to promote innovative social science and Native American art. Its campus is located on Tewa ancestral lands in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The Vilcek Foundation focuses on raising awareness about immigrant contributions to arts and sciences in the United States.