An impressive work of pottery art by Wayne Snowbird Shields of Santa Clara Pueblo. Traditional Santa Clara black-on-black presentation of a grandfather figure holding a dreamcatcher net with a turquoise nugget centered in its web.

Admittedly, not a classical storyteller, but in its own way an extension of the same cultural tradition, since the grandfather is a recognized vehicle for wisdom and historical knowledge.

We first met Wayne Snowbird under the portal of the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe, NM. His work immediately captured our attention. Thus, commenced a conversation that extended for years.

In 2004, we visited his Santa Clara Pueblo studio, when we acquired this piece and several others directly from Wayne. All of them characteristically present with featureless faces, a reflection of Wayne’s spiritual approach to making his pottery figures, which represent ideas larger than any individual. They all also share the subtle power of a master artist whose skill, sensitivity, adherence to tradition and creativity are instantly recognizable.

This grandfather figure is one two still in our inventory and available for purchase. Another one of the four was almost instantly sold. The fourth, sadly, was broken during the preparation for Hurrican Ian when we moved treasure to levels above the anticipated flood surge. He now lays in two pieces in our storage area.
10” tall #PL65

Please Note: For a limited time, our normal fee for packing and shipping this work of pottery art will be absorbed by Native-PotteryLink, resulting in FREE SHIPPING to any address within the 48 mainland United States. Shipping to other destination may be arranged by emailing Sanibelart@gmail.com.