Skip to main content
Artist/Maker
Peter B. Jones
(Onondaga, Beaver Clan, born 1947)
Date2009
MediumModeled clay
DimensionsOverall: 17 × 10 1/4 × 10 1/4 in. (43.2 × 26 × 26 cm)
Credit LinePurchase, The Edward W. Root Class of 1905 Memorial Art Purchase Fund
Object number2025.12.2
Not on view
DescriptionSkyworld is a "contemporary traditional" pot, according to artist Peter B. Jones. Although the vessel was created with modern clays and high-fired in a kiln, its form consisting of a rounded narrow base, coil-built bulbous body, and embellished collar emulates early, pre-contact clay pots that were low-fired in pits. Jones was especially inspired by excavated Ripley, New York pots from the 1600s that were created in the Susquehannock style by peoples along the shores of Lake Erie. He continues to experiment with low-fire pottery to rediscover the lost processes of his ancestors, noting stylistic similarities across tribal affiliations likely due to trade.
The Wellin pot features bolts of lightning and a downpour of replenishing rain shooting from spiralized clouds incised on the collar. At four points on the collar are "thunderer" effigies visually imagined by Jones and framed between plaited and lobed decoration. According to the Haudenosaunee creation story, thunderers suppress evil entities within inner earth, preventing their escape and spread of chaos. The Thunder Dance occurs after the first lightning of the year to honor these effigies and usher in spring.
Collections
Additional Details
Signature
Underside (incised): "PB Jones / '09"
Jeffrey Gibson
Date: 2017
Medium: Glazed ceramic and repurposed ceramic figurines
Object number: 2018.5
Maria Poveka Martinez
Date: c. 1925-43
Medium: San Ildefonso black-on-black terracotta
Object number: 2018.3.4
Dan Weiner
Date: 1956, published 1998
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Object number: 2001.6
Griffith & Griffith
Date: c. 1897
Medium: Albumen prints mounted on cardboard
Object number: S2023.1.36
Dorothy Shakespear
Date: 1999
Medium: Printed book
Object number: 2002.31
Mike Disfarmer
Date: c. 1952
Medium: Gelatin silver contact print
Object number: 2020.9.101
Unknown artist, Chinese
Date: c. 960-1279
Medium: Ceramic with black glaze
Object number: 2016.6.2
Trini Silveira
Date: before 2008
Medium: Terracotta with paint
Object number: 2018.3.9