NEW BOOKS: TALKING WITH THE CLAY
words and photographs by Stephen Trimble
(SAR Press, 20th anniversary expanded and revised edition, 2007)
Awards:
2008 New Mexico Book Award, Best Arts Book
1987 Benjamin Franklin Book Award for excellence in independent publishing (original edition)
Purchase: Indiebound, Powell's, Amazon
About:
When you hold a Pueblo pot in your hands, you feel a tactile connection through the clay to the potter and to centuries of tradition. You will find no better guide to this feeling than Talking with the Clay. Stephen Trimble’s photographs capture the spirit of Pueblo pottery in its stunning variety, from the glittering micaceous jars of Taos Pueblo to the famous black ware of San Ildefonso Pueblo, from the bold black-on-white designs of Acoma Pueblo to the rich red-and-gold polychromes of the Hopi villages. His portraits of potters communicate the elegance and warmth of these artists, for this is the potters’ book. Through dozens of conversations, their stories and dreams span seven generations and more than a century, revealing how potterymaking helps to bridge the gap between worlds, between humans and clay, springing from old ways but embracing change. In this newly revised, expanded, and redesigned edition, Trimble brings his classic into the 21st Century with interviews and photographs from a new generation of potters working to preserve the miraculous balance between tradition and innovation.
In print for more than twenty years, Trimble's book remains the book-of-choice recommended by Indian art gallery owners when they send a new enthusiast home with a piece of Pueblo pottery.
Praise:
"The previous edition was by far one of the very best books on the subject, but author/photographer Stephen Trimble has made this 20th Anniversary edition even better. He has kept all that made the last one great, and updated it by adding new photos and interviews with the new generations of potters, truly bringing this classic into the 21st century with more recent approaches to pottery making and the traditions from which this fascinating art arose. Even if you have the first one, this book is a must have for any student of pueblo pottery or any serious collector. Bravo!"
Richard S. Guier, Amazon.com
"Trimble’s quotes give the reader the feeling that he sat atop Mt. Taylor or Tsikumu, sacred lofty Pueblo peaks, and by sleight of hand snatched passing ideas, phrases, images, potters emotions and molded and shaped them into sentences which began to tell how it is that Pueblo potters think, feel, and create."
Tessie Naranjo and Tito Naranjo (Santa Clara Pueblo), American Indian Culture and Research Journal
"Shifting back and forth from respect for tradition to the joy of innovation, the tale is held together by the common love of clay."
The New York Times
"...the prime source of information about modern Pueblo pottery and potters.
Amazon.com
"This extraordinary piece of work by Stephen Trimble should be required reading for any collector. With well-told stories, rich detail and a lifetime spent researching, Trimble sheds light on the people—both legendary and contemporary—and the places behind this remarkable art form. The prose sings and the photos shine. A magnificent book indeed!"
Carter Walker, Western Art & Architecture
"Talking with the Clay is a joyous, fascinating, and moving book filled with information and insight."
Indian-Artifact Magazine
"Talking With the Clay is the best survey of Pueblo pottery made during the past fifty years and...clearly one of the finest studies of any contemporary Southwest Indian craft tradition."
Masterkey
"This book was recommended to me by the owner of a well known Native American Arts gallery as possibly THE best book on the subject, and it completely lives up to the recommendation. ...it is filled with personal thoughts and views of the various artists about their work—not only the processes of creating pottery, but their feelings about how they as modern potters fit into the "history" as well. If you are at all interested in Southwest Pueblo Pottery, you MUST read this book. It's not a "picture book" like so many others, though it does have many great photos, but it's not a scholarly text book either. I cannot recommend this book highly enough and I cannot thank my gallery owner friend enough for recommending it to me."
Vacation Book Review
Santa Clara Pueblo pot by Tammy Garcia
Taos Pueblo
Garrett Maho firing Hopi Pueblo pottery
Eudora Montoya, Santa Ana Pueblo pottery matriarch
Rebecca Lucario with paintings of her Acoma Pueblo pots
Wilfrid Garcia pot with kiva steps, Acoma Pueblo