The Dr. Samuel R. Poliakoff Collection of Western Art

Garcia has beautifully adapted ancient Mimbres pottery design in this startlingly modern plate. Mimbres culture existed from 800-1150 AD in the southwest corner of New Mexico. In the 1950s, Garcia’s mother Marie. Z. Chino and a few other Acoma potters began experimenting with the incorporation of Mimbres iconography. Mimbres potters painted anthropomorphic images on the interior surfaces of bowls, usually leaving more unpainted, or white space, than painted area. Here, Garcia has devised a way to replicate Mimbres bowls by leaving an area undecorated.