Signed Six Nations vessel “DLS” / Darlene L. Smith, of ovoid form with wide everted rim and decorated with an incised geometric design. There is a wide central band of vertically overlapping diamonds, their interiors filled with incised parallel lines. Above this is a narrow band of opposing triangles: their interiors also filled with parallel lines. The interior of the pot is covered with a yellowish glaze with a pale greenish tinge. The vase measures 5 ¾ inches high x 4” D.
The base has an incised Flint & Feather logo with the initials “SN” (Six Nations) within the flint and to the right of the logo the initials “DLS” for Darlene L. Smith.
This pot is from “The Florence E. Hill Estate Six Nations
“The late Florence E. Hill was born on the Six Nations reserve in 1915, attended the Mohawk Institute in Brantford and was a 1939 graduate of MacDonald College, now part of the University of Guelph. In 1940 she married Joseph C. Hill and they both spent their careers teaching in the elementary system on Six Nations.”
“About the Pottery – The first concerted effort came from a few dedicated women and men at the Six Nations Reserve in Canada in the late 1960’s. The late Elda and Oliver Smith along with Sylvia Smith, Dee Martin, and Karen Williams began to create a form of pottery which became known as Mohawk Pottery. While using an electric wheel and kiln, they produced pots which were Haudenosaunee in design yet modern in function. These artisans developed a brown wash which resembled the colors of the ancient pots and studied the geometric design elements to decorate their pots. In time they also began to use the clay as a canvas, incising into the clay, designs which symbolically represented events in their history or meaningful values such as a tree of peace or clan animal.”
