Spectacular!  This is one of the largest plates we have had from Dolores.  It is exciting to see her work when she creates pieces on this scale! The front of the plate has a central square section which is fully polished and painted with a water serpent.  There is a deep carved section and then the remainder of the plate is fully incised and highlighted with clay slips in her “poly-tonal” style.   There are four interconnected sections with cloud, rain and kiva step designs.  Around the rim are very tiny incised feathers!  The back is carved and then slipped with a micaceous clay. There is a gunmetal/metallic appearance about the coloration on the back.  Again..stunning!

How does Dolores create her “poly-tonal” incised blackware?  This is a style which she originated by modifying the classic “black” pottery with polishing and rubbing techniques to create various shades of black and grey.  Technically, this is an amazing and time involved process as the surface areas are either polished or slipped with mica or rubbed until they are almost a gunmetal coloration.  The designs are created by either incising or etching into the surface and this is combined with painted designs.