Bee Pod Pigment 1976.14.20
Octavius Seowtewa: Where we at, in the Museum I think and we talking about this paint, how it’s made, and the plant that it comes from because you can tell where somebody used a knife or something sharp to (gestures). It’s made out of Rocky Mountain Bee Pod. See where it was scrapped. Show this end to them, turn it around just a little. Its a paint made out of Rocky Mountain Bee Pod. They boil it, they boil it, until all the water comes out and they turn it gooey. It probably took a lot just to make this. Its got a Zuni name Na:he’le. The potter would make this and every time he or she wanted to paint a pot, they would scrape off the powder, and then mix water in it, and paint it. It comes from the Rocky Mountain Bee Pod. Keep boiling until it goes into a goop, and then you dry it. It’s portable you can take it anywhere. You can see the scraping on it.
Fumi Arakawa: So it’s not animal.
Octavius Seowtewa: No. It says incising tool, antler. Nope.
Fumi Arakawa: That’s why it’s so heavy.
Octavius Seowtewa: Yea.
Fumi Arakawa: Cool