Born at Zuni Pueblo in 1969,
Alan Lasiloo began his artistic endeavors as a novice fetish
carver at age 13. Later, at the Santa Fe Institute of American
Indian Arts, he took a pottery class that evolved into a career
as a clay sculptor and potter.
He continued his education
at the American College for the Applied Arts in Los Angeles where
he studied fashion design. “I try to utilize what I have
learned about fashion design by using lines, curves and pleats
in my clay sculptures. This creates movement and brings life
to the pieces.”
He returned home to Zuni Pueblo
in 1999, where he began utilizing his education as he taught
himself pottery making incorporating the white clay of Zuni Pueblo
that he remembered his grandmother using when she was alive.
He first entered his work to be judged at Santa Fe’s Indian
Market in 2007. By incorporating principles of fashion design,
while testing form and firing techniques, Lasiloo began producing
beautiful award winning pottery. Lasiloo has garnered many awards
and accolades making him an artist whose work is sought after
by many collectors.
Alan starts with micaceous
clay from the Tewa Basin of northern New Mexico. For paint and
slips, Alan uses ground minerals, native plants, and clay mixtures.
The blackness of the pottery is achieved by a traditional pit
firing which covers the pot in powdered dung, blocking oxygen
and impregnating the clay with soot.
“Thanks to all the positive
people, places, and things that have influenced my life, I have
a spiritual link to the past of the A'shiwi – my Zuni ancestors,”
says Alan.
