Pot

Peter B. Jones is a premiere contemporary Haudenosaunee clay artist. For decades, Jones has researched ancestral Haudenosaunee techniques, that date over centuries. The artist’s ceramic methods are based upon traditional pottery from the 1500s. This piece is created in the form of an effigy pot, with a seated figure in each rim corner. It is hand-formed using coiling and paddling to build the walls. The clay was locally-sourced in upstate New York.

Jones is credited with reviving ancestral Haudenosaunee ceramic techniques. The artist reconnects Indigenous community members and new generations of artists with traditional Iroquois pottery through education and studio workshops. Following early Haudenosaunee ceramic practices, Jones gathers clay from local stream beds and modifies it with crushed shells, rock, and sand. The hand-molded and pit-fired vessels feature incised patterns, animal imagery, and text that allude to communal histories and origin stories that affirm Haudenosaunee identity, land rights, and responsibilities to the earth. The four effigies on this pot combine historical forms with innovative, contemporary design.