This is a beautiful signed Zia Pueblo pottery olla / bowl with polychrome painting from Zia Pueblo artist, Irene Herrera done in the circa 1970’s. The piece is signed on the bvottom and comes with a vintage original tag. Irene Herrera was born in 1942 as “Apple Flower” and is considered to be half Zia Pueblo and half Jemez. Irene was motivated to hand coil pottery using ancient traditional methods passed down from her mother, Andrea Tsosie. Irene was eight years old when she developed an interest in pottery. She would sit and see Andrea hand coiling and painting her pottery, and at the age of 12, she began painting on pottery. Irene specializes in authentic Zia Pueblo hand-coiled and painted ceramics. She gathers her clay in the Zia Pueblo. Then she grinds, hand cleans the clay, mixes, hand coils, molds, paints, and fires her pottery in the traditional outdoor method. Irene hand coils a wide range of shapes and sizes and uses natural pigments to color her work. “I enjoy making pottery because it comes from within my heart and it’s a gift to make my pottery,” Irene said. Irene signs her pottery: Irene Herrera, Zia. She is related to Leonard Tsosie, Rebecca Tsosie-Gachupin and Joanne Tsosie-Toribio. The bowl shows two roadrunners on opposites sides from each other with geometric shapes dividing them. It shows beige, red / brown and black colors on the top of the piece while the bottom shows a solid red / brown color. The very bottom of the piece is signed in black reading, "Irene Herrera / Zia". The piece shows good condition overall with slight wear present from its age but no signs of damage noted. It measures 4" L x 4" W x 3 1/4" H and weighs 6 oz.*