For my historical vessel project, I took inspiration from other ceramic figures from Japanese, Peruvian, and Colombian cultures to make my vase. Currently, I am waiting for my vessel to finish drying, then I'll go back and paint it. I haven't decided on a color palette, but I really like the yellow from the Peruvian Spout and Bridge, so I might go that route. I also don't have a name for the vessel yet, but if that is strongly needed, I'll come back to this and think of something :)

For the shape of my vase, I did research on the Japanese Jomon pot. The Japanese Jomon pots were made using Earthenware clay with incised decoration, colored in red a/o vermillion, and excavated. This kind of pottery was made in Japan's late Jomon period (2500-1000 BCE), mostly located in the Tohoku region. The word "jomon" represented the Jomon people, a group/population who at the time, were known to hunt/gather, found importance in agriculturalist lifestyles, and were East Asian. The specific jar that I took inspiration from currently resides in New York's Museum of Metropolitan Art. For the handle of my vase, I did research on the Peruvian Spout and Bridge Bottle. The Peruvian Spout and Bridge Bottles were made in 7th-5th century BCE South Peru, colored in mustard yellow, red, and green paint. I didn't realize this initially, but the top designs of the bottle are actually birds from Peruvian paracas culture. Paracas culture stems from the Paracas Peninsula, where corpses often resided. These kinds of bottles had many uses, mainly for ceremonies, traditional use to honor the dead, or day-to-day liquid storage. I didn't get around to doing research as to why this kind of bottle is called a spout and bridge bottle, but I would assume it has to do with the shape of the handle. I could not find where this piece is currently located. For the overall design layout of my vase, I did research on Tairona carvings from Ancient Colombia. Tairona carvings seemed from Ancient Colombian pottery, specially in the northern Andes mountainous region, during 400-900 AD. The Taironas, one of Colombia's many Indigenous groups, resided there, before being conquered by the Inka Empire. Tairona pottery was known to represent strength and perseverance, specifically towards using subtle spots of red through their muted coloring, which also represented power, authority, and respect for the sun. I didn't had frog figurines, but those were also seen often in Tairona pottery. Similar to the Coqui frogs of Puerto Rico, there were also many frogs in this region, and some thought the animal to symbolize luck associated with rain and water. This piece currently resides in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC. 

I started off making my vessel by making an oval-shaped pinch pot, focusing on making it as tall as I could, since I knew this would be my main base. Then I grabbed more clay and made the top part of my vessel, by also pinching the upper area to add height. I made the handle by rolling and bending some clay to make the base of it, and grabbing little pieces of clay, shaping them into little squares and triangles for the handle, as well as the corners of the vessel. Afterwards, I used the coil method, the slip and score method, carved to stack and piece everything together. I tried to include little portions of each of the designs in my vessel (ex: the squiggles designs from the Japanese jomon, the rectangular designs from the Peruvian Spout & Bridge, and the star-x like designs from the Tairona carvings). I chose these cultures because the shavings of their forms of pottery, and each of their stories interested me greatly. I'm also Colombian, so I knew I wanted to add and learn more about my culture for this project.