The orb-like vessel’s mesmerizing black-and-white patterns feature representations of the natural world through intersecting lines, shapes, and symmetry. Applied with a yucca brush, the designs engage with long-established techniques passed through generations in a centuries-old legacy of pottery making.

Cletus Victorino’s process requires immense skill and ingenuity in transforming hand-harvested clay into thin-walled vessels built from coils of clay and burnished with stone. His methods of gathering, preparing, and pigmenting clay were taught to him by his mother, Sandra Victorino, a well-known potter of her generation.

Text written by Elise Boulanger (Citizen of the Osage Nation/Wahzhazhe), Curatorial Intern and MA, Art History in Arts of the Americas, University of Arkansas ’26 [111]