Fine Lines

About Fine Line Designs

Fine lines on pottery are most likely descended from prehistoric rock art. Rock art can be found all across the Southwest region, from the Pacific Coast east to the Great Plains and from the Great Salt Lake south into the Chihuahuan and Sonoran Deserts. Some has been dated to be more than 10,000 years old. The older the rock art is, the more likely it is composed of fine lines.

The rock art vocabulary in the Southwest underwent a massive, almost overnight shift in the mid-1200s CE as a more significant spiritual component was added to the prevalent world views, but fine lines continued to be used. Like everything else in the vocabulary, the meanings got deeper as their spiritual component was increased.

In 1933, when the potters of Ohkay Owingeh defined their base Potsuwi'i pottery style and design palette, a band of matte surface above the shoulder with etched fine lines highlighted with micaceous paint were a major part of the spec.

Today we usually equate fine lines with rain when, for most, they are prayers for rain going up the fine lines and the fine lines coming down representing the prayers answered. With Native American pottery, there's always an element of prayer behind every symbol, every design, every action taken in the traditional way of making pottery. There is always an assumption that the prayer is concurrently being answered, too.

The "snowflake fine line" design was adapted from early rock art designs where small patterns were fitted together and then tiled across a surface. It fitted itself really well to the surface(s) of pottery and its painting was a simple prayer for moisture, even as snow. The pattern itself can be kind of an "eye-dazzler."

About the North Star fine line design pattern

"North Star fine line" is a design pattern innovated by Rebecca Lucario of Acoma Pueblo. Only she and direct relatives she has given explicit permission to, use it.

The base design consists of a center with straight lines radiating outward to the circumference of a medallion. The medallion is often placed in the center of a plate. It is also used sometimes on seed pots where it is sometimes placed off-center. The commonality is the straightness and thinness of the lines radiating globally from a single point and the signatures on the pieces.

---