PETER JONES (Onondaga, Beaver Clan) is a renowned potter and sculptor whose work has been exhibited at numerous museums, including the Smithsonian. Most recently, he has been honored with the First Nations Award for his artwork. He was able to hone his skill as a potter and learn ancient techniques from a Hopi teacher, Otellie Loloma. Peter is known for incorporating what he calls "Indian Humor" into his work.

I use clay as a medium because I can work with it directly and form it into whatever I wish to express. The artwork that I make is based on my heritage and my experiences growing up on the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation.

I create pottery and ceramic sculpture using two methods. Much of my work is wheel thrown and kiln fired, but I also use native clays to make hand-built, coiled pottery that is pit fired in a wood fire. These pots reflect our original Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) pottery, which was made with local clay gathered from streambeds and altered with the addition of crushed shell, crushed granitic rock, and sand to create a clay body that was useful and durable after it was fired.

Clay itself has long been recognized as having healing properties. It has been used on wounds, bee stings, and in cooking to remove poisons from certain foods. Working with clay has also been found to be useful to maintain and heal mental health.

When I began researching our Iroquois pottery and teaching myself how to make it, my objective was to build a core group of potters throughout the Six Nations Confederacy. I learned how to make a pot from start to finish with nothing more than a supply of clay, a few handmade tools, and fire. This was over 25 years ago, and over that time, through trial and error, I have developed methods of making and firing pots that have proven to be quite successful. I have offered classes and workshops throughout the Six Nations Communities to share with others what I have learned. My instruction begins with finding the natural clay, processing it, and forming pottery with it.

When people think of Native pottery, they think of Southwestern pottery. I want to change this and make it clear that the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) people had a pottery history, too, and that our pottery continues to have cultural resonance among us. Our identity is vital to our survival as a people.

Our people are also victims of trauma, whether intergenerational or generational. To create with clay and to make old-style pottery and clay ceremonial pipes connects us to a way of life that we admire. When people are working with clay--whether it be my own people or children and adults in museum and art center settings, they are focused on producing something that is uniquely theirs, something that they imagine in their mind's eye and that will result in an object that has meaning to them. It is relaxing and allows your mind to think creatively. Aggression can be taken out on the clay, as you pound it and work it into a usable state. If a pot breaks, it can be repaired or rebuilt. There are no mistakes; there is only learning, as in life. Clay work involves the elements of earth, wind, water, and fire--the basic elements of life that, when combined correctly, yield an object of beauty and function.

Bringing back something that has been lost to time has given me a sense of satisfaction, and I am intent on passing this on to others. Those learning to create pottery are participating not only in reviving an ancient art but also by connecting to their inner selves. These lessons are valuable to making us whole as a people again.

I think Haudenosaunee people's involvement in all aspects of the representation of our culture is important to convey a true and realistic interpretation of who we are. In the past, museums have been built to house artifacts as proof of our existence, as though we were no longer a people. It's important that we speak up and take part. As for what the children gain by meeting and watching a "real" Native person work and live--it gives them a different perspective that we are a living, viable culture in the 21st century.