Mohawk Pottery Vase, Six Nations Reserve, Canada, Handmade + Incised 4.5” 1981.

Mohawk Pottery Vase, Handmade + Incised, Six Nations Reserve, Canada, 4.5” 1981. Gorgeous Turquoise interior glaze with high gloss finish is a stark and stunning contrast to the dark matte exterior finish. Gorgeous handmade and hand incised geometric and linear patterns. Flawless condition. Signed Mohawk Pottery, 1981. Traditional Canadian First Nations Indigenous Pottery. For over 3000 years the people of the Kahniakehaka (Mohawk) nation made pottery. Pottery that was used primarily for functional reasons – cooking vessels, containers – and also for cermonial purposes such as pipes. The late Elda “Bun” Smith, a Mohawk woman living on Six Nations Reserve began collecting pieces of broken pottery that she found dispersed throughout the lands of the Reserve. Serendipitously, at that time the Ontario Arts Council sent a potter named Tessa Kidick from Vineland Station to teach pottery at Six Nations. They dug their own clay out of the ground and they didn’t use electric kilns. In a very true sense they had gone back to the roots of this traditional practice but infused it with elements of their contemporary sensibility. In 1967 Elda Smith had created a stunning tea-set using the Wampum bead design as her inspiration. However, in recognition of the significance of this design she refused to sell it. Instead, it was presented to Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to Canada during Expo 1967. Heirloom collector’s item. Mint condition.