Ladle

Label

Many of us probably have a ladle in our kitchens. What is it about this ladle that earns it a place in a museum case? In part, it is the story it tells. The precisely painted black and white patterns in the bowl of the ladle surround an unpainted center that may represent the place of emergence for the Pueblo people from the underworld into this world. The zigzag patterns may be tied to storms, lightning, and rain.

The style of black paint on white clay is associated with the Kayenta or Hopi areas of northern Arizona, where people gathered near sources of water to form communities and trading sites like Tuba City. The symbolism of this functional object links it to essential values for ancient Puebloans, including water resources and the afterlife.

From the 2024 exhibition Ancient Narratives: A New Look at Old Art, curated by Ashley B. Offill, Curator of Collections

Course History

ANTH 11, NAS 11, Ancient Native Americans, Deborah Nichols, Winter 2013

WRIT 5, Expository Writing, William Nichols, Winter 2012

ANTH 3, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Sienna Craig, Summer 2013

SART 17.08, Digital Drawing, Karol Kawiaka, Fall 2020

COCO 26.01, What's in Your Toolbox?, Heidi Denzel and Mokhtar Bouba, Fall 2022

COCO 26.01, What's in Your Toolbox?, Heidi Denzel and Mokhtar Bouba, Fall 2022

Anthropology 3.01, Introduction to Anthropology, Charis Ford Morrison Boke, Summer 2023

Italian 3.01, Introductory Italian III, Floriana Ciniglia, Winter 2024

Religion 4.01, Jewish Studies 4.01, Religion of Israel: Hebrew Bible, Susan Ackerman, Winter 2024

Studio Art 16.01, Sculpture I, Matt Siegle, Winter 2024

Exhibition History

American Ancients: Prehistory in the United States, Heritage Plantation of Sandwich, Sandwich, Massachusetts, May 11, 1984-November 1985.

Ancient and Premodern Global Cultures, Gene Y. Kim Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 26, 2019.

Ancient Native American Pottery, Harrington Gallery Teaching Exhibition, Anthropology 32, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 7-February 9, 1992.

Basis for Design: Visual Problem Solving, Harrington Gallery Teaching Exhibition, Studio Art 10, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 31-April 26, 1998.

Gene Y. Kim, Class of 1985, Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 22, 1994-January 14, 1996.

Global Cultures at the Hood: Ancient to Premodern, Gene Y. Kim Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 26. 2019.

Harrington Gallery Teaching Exhibition, Anthropology 32, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, February 13-March 4, 1990.

Native American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 8, 2011-March 12, 2012.

Publication History

George P. Horse Capture, Sr., Joe D. Horse Capture, Joseph M. Sanchez, et al., Native American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2011, ill. on p. 101 and p. 152, no. 64.

John R. Stomberg, The Hood Now: Art and Inquiry at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2019, p. 81, ill. plate no. 12.

Provenance

Collected by Clara G. Corser Turner Churchill (1851-1945) and Frank Carroll Churchill (1850-1912), Tuba City, Arizona, 1904-1907; bequeathed to present collection, 1946.

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