Jar

Inscriptions

Signed, on the bottom, E.P. Routzen / Acoma N.M.

Label

Inspired by a long history of women potters working in her community, Elsie Routzen modeled this terracotta jar based on a traditional form. The design portrays abstracted spinach leaves, a vitamin-rich, leafy green vegetable. To create the darker decoration, Routzen ground up spinach leaves and used them as an artistic material. Spinach represents itself in an abstracted form. With spinach as material and decoration, Routzen demonstrates the close connections and interdependence between art, food, and water.

From the 2023 exhibition Liquidity: Art, Commodities, and Water, curated by Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art

Course History

First Year Student Enrichment Program - Cultures, Identities and Belongings, Francine A'Ness, Summer 2023

Exhibition History

Liquidity: Art, Commodities, and Water, Israel Sack Gallery and the Rush Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 29, 2023-June 16, 2024.

Provenance

Collected by Putnam W. Blodgett (1931-2020), Lyme, New Hampshire, about 1970s-1980s; given to present collection, 2013.

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