Alice Cling

Navajo

Born in 1946, Alice started playing with clay as a young girl but didn't become a recognized Navajo potter until the late 1980s. After she graduated from a federal government boarding school she returned home to the Shonto area. Once back home, she learned the formal process for making pottery from her mother, Rose Williams, and her aunt, Grace Barlow.

Alice digs her clay from somewhere near Black Mesa. Once she processes her clay and makes a pot, she applies an iron-bearing slip to it and polishes the surfaces with either a river stone or a Popsicle stick. When she fires her pots, the ash that falls onto them from the juniper wood pit fire merges into the clay to produce the blushes (known as fire clouds) on her pottery that give it that warm feeling. After the firing, she usually brushes on a light coating of warm piñon pitch and once that dries, burnishes each pot to a distinctive low shine.

Alice's career really took off when one of her pots was shown in the Vice President's mansion in Washington, DC in 1978. Over the next 19 years Alice participated in many shows around the country and earned many awards. Then in 1997 she was included in the Pottery by American Indian Women, the Legacy of Generations exhibition and book by Susan Peterson at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC.

At that point Alice stopped competing and just stayed home to make pots. She's still doing that. Aice signs the bottom of her pieces "Alice Cling".

Fire clouds on a long neck red jar
Long neck red jar with fire clouds
8.75 in H by 7 in Dia
Fire clouds and a braided biyo' around the shoulder of a tall neck brown jar
Tall neck brown jar with fire clouds and a braided biyo' around the shoulder
9 in H by 6 in Dia
Square opening, fire clouds and pine pitch coating on a brown jar
Brown jar with square opening, fire clouds and pine pitch coating
5.5 in H by 4.5 in Dia
Fire clouds and pine pitch coating on a plain brown jar
Plain brown jar with fire clouds and pine pitch coating
12.75 i H by 6.5 in Dia
2nd Place ribbon: Santa Fe Indian Market
Fire clouds on a polished brown jar
Polished brown jar with fire clouds
5 in H by 5.5 in Dia
Fire clouds and pine pitch coating on a red jar
Red jar with fire clouds and pine pitch coating
6 in H by 4 in Dia
Fire clouds and pine pitch on a polished brown jar
Polished brown jar with fire clouds and pine pitch coating
7 in H by 4.75 in Dia
Two black rings and fire clouds decorate a small base brown jar
Small base brown jar with a long neck decorated with two black rings and fire clouds
7.25 in H by 7 in Dia
Narrow neck and pine pitch coating on a polished brown jar with fire clouds
Polished brown jar with a narrow neck, fire clouds and pine pitch coating
7.5 in H by 6.25 in Dia
Fire clouds and pine pitch coating on a brown vase
Brown vase with fire clouds and pine pitch coating
8.25 in H by 5.5 in Dia
Square opening and black fire clouds on a red jar
Red jar with fire clouds and a square opening
5.25 in H by 4 in Dia
Biyo around the shoulder of a brown jar
Brown jar with a biyo around the shoulder
5 in H by 3.75 in Dia
Fire clouds on a plain brown jar
Plain brown jar with fire clouds
5.5 in H by 3.75 in Dia
Honorable Mention winner at the 1993 Santa Fe Indian Market
Red jar with fire clouds, winner of the Honorable Mention ribbon, 1993 SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market
10.75 in H by 8.5 in Dia
Black fire clouds on a plain brown jar
Plain brown jar with black fire clouds and pine pitch coating
4.25 in H by 3.5 in Dia
Fire clouds and braided handles on a brown jar
Brown jar with braided handles, fire clouds and pine pitch coating
6.5 in H by 5 in Dia

Diné Potters