Eli Navarrete: Polychrome Jar

Eli Navarrete is the Mata Ortiz potter who, working under the tutelage of his uncle, Macario Ortiz, perfected multicolored pots in the late 1990s using commercial mineral paints. Eli is a master of design, and by studying this piece, one is astounded by the detail and surprise inherent in it. The more one looks at this amazing jar the more one sees, and after a couple of years one would be finding new images; it is a marvel of complexity. It is truly amazing to follow the grey, white, red, cream and orange lines around the surface of this masterpiece. Eli tells us that today his colored paints are made from natural minerals that he digs and prepares himself from the surrounding hills near his home.