What happens when a top Indigenous ceramic artist has the freedom and space to design a sculpture for a leading museum?
The result is “Mud Woman Rolls On.” Larger than life, this evocative piece greets visitors to the gallery of Indigenous Arts of North America at Denver Art Museum. “Mud Woman Rolls On” has a permanent place introducing visitors to the artistry and profound narratives they’ll find in this important collection of more than 18,000 pieces.
Acclaimed sculptor Roxanne Swentzell is known for her sought-after micaceous clay figures, which can be found in public and private collections and museums across the globe. A member of the Santa Clara Pueblo (b. 1962) in New Mexico, Swentzell comes from a family of prominent artists skilled in the mediums of clay and textiles.
Swentzell created “Mud Woman Rolls On” in 2011. Implementing her vision and collaborating with the community and family, Swentzell finished the piece in nine months, working sometimes three to four days straight once or twice a month. The result has a deep cultural and emotional resonance that embodies the rich tradition of Puebloan culture where storytellers represent passing knowledge from generation to generation. According to Swentzell, “This piece is telling us a story, a story about generations and our connection to the Earth.”
As a storyteller figure, “Mud Woman Rolls On,” at almost 11 feet tall, is imposing. She embraces four children of different ages in her lap. The materials Swentzell chose, including local soil from behind Denver Union Station in downtown and micaceous clay from northern New Mexico, add layers of meaning and connection to the piece. The clay covering the mother figure glitters with flecks of gold and silver. Swentzell also used a variety of other materials including coiled wattles made of tubes of straw and dyed grasses for the hair. Beyond outside appearances, “Mud Woman Rolls On” holds deep meaning and mystery.
Inside the statue is a “heart space” and contained in this space are additional items that were important to the artist including Colorado quartz, a Platte River stone, an arrowhead, an eagle feather, a small weaving from the Māori people of New Zealand and a Kukui tree nut from Hawaii. There are also seashells, a poem and a mystery piece that “leaves space for everything we don’t necessarily know yet but can become.” All these components represent the elements of earth, air, water, and animal and human existence.
Collaborating with the Denver community further enriched the work, bridging the artist’s vision and the community’s experience. The poem that is now part of the sculpture, with its imagery of the city’s heartbeat and the land’s whisper, resonates with the themes of continuity and connection.
The soul of the city is here, in the heartbeat of the people. The land still stirs beneath our feet, beneath the asphalt and concrete and high-rise buildings. Creation’s afterglow is still here, on the faces of the strangers we meet. Listen. Mud Woman is talking. She is the whisper of the land, the shout of the people, the sorrow of the city. She is us.
"Mud Woman Rolls On" is dedicated to the late Nancy Blomberg (d. 2018) in gratitude for her service to Denver Art Museum. Blomberg was with Denver Art Museum for 28 years, during which time she rose in the curatorial ranks to serve as the chief curator and inaugural Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Native Arts.
As part of the centennial celebration of the museum’s collection of Native arts, “Mud Woman Rolls On” will appear in the exhibition SUSTAINED! The Persistent Genius of Indigenous Art opening in December 2024. Learn more about "Mud Woman Rolls On," including a cool time-lapse of the construction process.