Today's leading potters from the pueblos of Arizona and New Mexico still use many ancient, time-intensive techniques. Clay is gathered from native lands.
Pots are smoldered in fires of dung, coal or wood.
But instead of making utilitarian vessels as their ancestors did, they are creating collectible fine art. Until the introduction of metal containers about 1900, pottery was made for cooking, to store water and grain, or for ceremonial use. But that was all to change. Nonporous and unbreakable metal was favored over ceramics for utilitarian purposes. Near the turn of the century, non-Indian visitors who toured the pueblos asked for smaller and more decorative pieces.