Polychrome Prayer or Meal Bowl (#41)
Lois Gutierrez de la Cruz (b.1948) — Santa Clara Pueblo
Lois Gutierrez's work is widely collected for its very refined artwork and form utilizing beautiful graphics and rich, solid colors to create her fine pieces. A distinctive quality of her work is portraying various aspects of traditional Pueblo life including Pueblo dancers, everyday life scenes, human and animal interactions, and the occasional graphic statement pertaining to Native American political perspectives. The bowl, like most of Gutierrez’s work, carries a strong narrative quality. This shape bowl is often called a terrace bowl, the terraces representing the mountains. The deer and clouds are found in the mountains while the woman dancer shares with us that dance is a visual prayer for the rain and life of the mountains.