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How does Rose B. Simpson use the slap-slab technique in her clay figures?
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Native American art
Pottery created by the Hohokam people, made of buff clay and painted with red designs.
Rose B. Simpson, a Santa Clara Pueblo artist, utilizes a unique method she refers to as the "slap-slab" technique to create her androgynous clay figures. In this process, she thins out the clay and tears it into individual pieces. These pieces are then attached to one another, resulting in a construction style that resembles papier-mâché.1
This approach distinguishes her work from the traditional, sturdy pottery techniques typically associated with her pueblo, which involve hand-coiling long "sausages" of clay to build forms.12