Study for "They Will Take My Island"

This sculpture is a contemporary version of the traditional storyteller figure with a humorous twist. It makes a dual statement on the production of traditional-style pottery for the Santa Fe Indian Market for sale to collectors as well as on the Pueblo potter\'s need to create something lasting for generations to come. A Pueblo woman sits with her legs and arms stretched out in front of her. Her feet are bare; her arms and hands rest on her legs below the knees. She wears a black, Pueblo-style dress with one shoulder bare and a white waistband decorated in red-ocher vertical dashes. The figure\'s face resembles the artist herself, Roxanne Swentzell. Her eyes look up toward the classic-style Santa Clara Pueblo black pot balanced on her head. Two babies emerge from the pot, one shown halfway out while the other has its head poking up. A third baby stands on the woman\'s shoulder and is reaching toward those emerging from the pot. A fourth baby sits on the woman\'s lap with an expression of deep contentment. The entire piece is a tour de force of workmanship, a hand-formed sculpture that merges two worlds, the time-honored and the modern.