Biography

Jacquie Lauren Stevens is an American Indian ceramicist and a leader in the style
of contemporary American Indian pottery. Her work usually consists of large,
asymmetrically formed vessels with smooth, unglazed surfaces, which are beautifully
juxtaposed against ornamentation of raw, earthy materials. Stevens specializes in modern
interpretations of traditional art forms, gaining inspiration from the products of her
Winnebago ancestors. Her influences include both pottery and woven work. Whereas
ancient ceramics has purely utilitarian purposes, Stevens contemporary works are her
personal expressions first and foremost, and are aesthetic and spiritual pieces thereafter.
Stevens was born in Omaha, NE on April 3, 1949, and is a part of the Winnebago
tribe, whose reservation is located North of Omaha. She was raised by her grandparents
and had her first lessons in modeling clay from her grandfather at the age of 5, using mud
dug from the banks of the Missouri River. Her grandmother took her gathering in the
woods, which further exposed her to natural forms and textures prevalent in her ceramic
works.
Like many other American Indian artists, Stevens uses traditional methods to
process and fire natural clays from New Mexico and Nebraska. In addition to the hand-
dug clays, she uses commercial high-fire clays, and usually forms large art pieces in
either round or asymmetrical forms. Her work is largely minimalist, and emphasizes
unglazed surfaces in order to show the natural tones and textures of the clay. Many times
she includes additional material near the neck of piece in a way that interrupts the
smoothness of the surface; these materials are commonly reminiscent of traditional
Winnebago culture (wicker, wood, reeds, shells, stone, and leather among others).
Stevens attended the University of Colorado Boulder before being accepted to the
Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe in 1975. While studying at the
IAIA, Jacquie was mentored by Otellie Loloma, a respected Hopi Pueblo ceramicist who
greatly influenced the artists perception of form and line, finding beauty in each of her
initial attempts.

Highlight

Formal characteristics:
This work, Vessel, is made of white earthenware with a woven wicker rim. The
base of the work is circular and flat, but gently gives away to a shallow bowl-like shape.
A quarter of the way up the walls of the work suddenly protrude out into a deeper, nearly
elliptical bowl. The wicker is incorporated along the brim of the vessel through a pattern
of six holes, arranged in an almost equidistantly around the top edge. Excess wicker
protrudes from the top lip of the vessel, where more material is woven in simple
ribbonwork pattern; this makes up a secondary rim above the clay edge of the work.
In this piece the flawless purity of the white surface of the clay is disrupted by the
introduction of a rougher-looking material, wicker. This contrast in texture is furthered by
the mica flakes incorporated into the white ware which interact with the light as
variations of color in the wicker seem to mimic the effect in the basketry. The weave
itself manipulates the interplay of light and shadow both inside and outside the piece in a
way that is almost performative, in the sense the viewer has a distinct experience with the
work from every angle. The artist does not display the overstated color or pattern often
found in American Indian pottery in an effort to keep Vessel characteristically soft in its
natural form and neutral tone.Overall the work is imbued with a serene sense in its
graceful, precise curvature and supple surface.

Context
Scholars believe native peoples entered the continental United States from Asia
through the Bering Land Bridge between 25,000 and 8,000 BC, and settled into what can
be divided into five physiographic areas: Great Plains (Midwest and Mississippi River
Valley), Southwest, West Coast, Northeast, and Southeast. A Great Plains tribe, called
Winnebago, developed in the Midwest before, like many Indian nations, they were
moved from their ancestral lands in Wisconsin to a new reservation in Nebraska in 1837.
This move was in accordance with the Indian Removal Act of 1830, approved during the
presidency of Andrew Jackson. A large majority of the Winnebago tribe moved back into
the eastern lands in Wisconsin in the 1870s; these men and women in Wisconsin call
themselves the Ho-Chunk Nation (Ho-Chunk is another name for Winnebago). The
Wisconsin area has more accessible grasses for weaving, making basketry very popular
in there, but both tribes are known for their applique, beadwork, basketry and pottery.
Pottery, as well as basket-making, was considered primarily a womans art, and
was initially developed for the utilitarian purposes of food and water storage as well as
cooking. Over time the landscape, plants, animals and even other humans influenced the
abstracted designs on pottery and other ritual objects, giving each village a recognizable
decorative style. Most of our knowledge of ancient native groups is based on clay work
alone, as fired clay is one of the few substances that will not easily break down over time.
As early as the 1920s, the most prominent American Indian potters were
encouraged to sign their wares, but the marketplace for their artwork did not take off until
the late 1960s. American Indian artwork itself was and is divided between contemporary
art and historical or cultural pieces for much of the 20th century, with non-traditional art
holding little or no recognized value outside the tribe. American Indian pottery especially
was largely ignored as an art form in American museums and universities until the 1960s,
when a movement to recognize Indian-made objects as art was spurred in the Southwest.
By the 1970s, modern pottery prices and sales were on the rise, and dealers specializing
in American Indian art began to establish a market for it, which gave these artists the
ability to step away from traditional practices and focus on self-expression through their
work.

Discussion Questions
1.Why do you think Jacquie Stevens chooses to not glaze her works?
2.Can you think of any materials that you could find outside you could use to decorate
pottery? What would you use?
3.What does asymmetrical mean? Can you think of anything that is asymmetrical? If
so, what is it?
4.Why did the Winnebago Indians relocate to Nebraska? Do you think it was fair the
government made them leave their home? Why or why not?
5.Where could you find clay in Nebraska?