lydia cheshewalla

Clay pots encircle a small bonfire. They are surrounded by sand. This is the first step in a traditional Muscogee Creek pottery single-fire.
Pictured against a white backdrop is a rounded clay pot that is slightly wider on top than it is at the base. The top of the pot is flat as has a medium size hole off center. It has been smoke-fired so it is cloudy shades of white, gray, and black.
Pictured against a white backdrop is an oblong, squatty pot that resembles a good skipping stone. It has a slightly rounded top with a medium size hole. It has been smoke-fired so it is cloudy shades of white, gray, and black.
Pictured against a white backdrop is an egg shaped pot. It has a small opening at the top. It has been smoke-fired so it is cloudy shades of white, gray, and black.
Pictured against a white backdrop is a high walled ceramic bowl. It has been pit-fired so the inside is a rich black with fuzzy white lines radiating upwards. The outside is a soft gray with smoky impressions of corn husks and flashes of copper carbonate.
A small egg-shaped pinch pot that is mostly white with a chainlink pattern scorched onto it.
Two small pinchpots that are both random bursts of black, white, and red color on a white backdrop. A result of smoke-firing.
An above shot of three small pinchpot bowls that have been smoke-fired and then gilded with gold leaf.
Ritual Cups Part 1: Three unfired clay cups sit on a pedestal and have been filled with water. They are beginning to crack and leak their water into the containers they sit in.
Ritual Cups Part 2: Two of the cups have split in threes and fallen down into the container below them. The third cup is still standing but severely cracked.
Ritual Cups Part 3. All three cups have cracked and fallen.

Working primarily in alternative firing methods: pit firing & smoke firing in a barrel.


Learning: Traditional Muscogee Creek single/open firing methods & natural clay processing.


Conceptual Ritual: Filling unfired clay cups with water to transform belief systems, enact transformation, and provide release.

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