Customer Reviews

Talking With the Clay: The Art of Pueblo Pottery

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This book was recommended to me by the owner of a well known Native American Arts gallery as possibly THE best book on the subject, and it completely lives up to the recommendation. Based on a series of interviews with prominent potters from each pueblo, it not only gives an overview of the history of the different potteries, it is filled with personal thoughts and views of the various artists about their work--not only the processes of creating pottery, but their feelings about how they as modern potters fit into the "history" as well. If you are at all interested in Southwest Pueblo Pottery, you MUST read this book. It's not a "picture book" like so many others, though it does have many great photos, but it's not a scholarly text book either. I cannot recommend this book highly enough and I cannot thank my gallery owner friend enough for recommending it to me.

If you have any interest in Pueblo pottery, indeed any Native American pottery, this is the book for you. Beautifully illustrated with dazzling color photos and supported with knowledgeable commentary, this is the prime source of information about modern Pueblo pottery and potters. Mr. Trimble's 80s book on the subject was fine; this one is even better. Gorgeous.

This extraordinary piece of work by Stephen Trimble should be required reading for any collector. With well-told stories, rich detail and a lifetime spent researching, Trimble sheds light on the people -- both legendary and contemporary -- and the places behind this remarkable art form. The prose in Talking with the Clay sings and the photos shine. A magnificent book indeed!

The previous edition was by far one of the very best books on the subject (see my review), but author/photographer Stephen Trimble has made this 20th Anniversary edition even better. He has kept all that made the last one great, and updated it by adding new photos and interviews with the new generations of potters, truly bringing this classic into the 21st century with more recent approaches to pottery making and the traditions from which this fascinating art arose.

Even if you have the first one, this book is a must have for any student of pueblo pottery or any serious collector.

Bravo!