Northern Oklahoma College Visual Arts Instructor and Eleanor Hays Art Gallery Director Audrey Schmitz spoke on the college’s “Pueblo Pottery, Traditions of the Southwest” exhibit on display in the Kinzer Performing Arts Center through Dec. 9.“Many thanks to Ron Licklider who has graciously loaned over 30 outstanding pieces to the college,” Schmitz said. “I also want to recognize art students from this semester’s Ceramics class who contributed research and narrative for the exhibit: A.J. Aguilar, Kelsey Grigg, Jackie Galvin, Ash Herard, Thomas Jenkins and Zoe Oxford.”“The art of making pottery among the Pueblo peoples dates back at least 2000 years.,” she said. “Pueblo” is the Spanish word for ‘village’ or ‘small town’ and is associated with a distinct cultural group in southwestern United States. When Spanish explorers first arrived in “New Mexico” in the 16th century, they encountered Native settlements in the fertile Rio Grande Valley. The Pueblo people subsequently lost land to Spanish, Mexican and the U.S. Government, but many of their villages remain in original location. It is estimated that over 70 villages occupied the area prior to this consolidation.”She said originally pieces were used as a function of society but then many pieces were produced due to western expansion and tourism.“After the Santa Fe Trail opened in the 1820s, manufactured goods became readily available and there was a decrease in functional pottery production,” she said. “Despite fewer vessels being produced, many of the forms and designs that characterize each Pueblo’s style were well established by 1880 when the Transcontinental Railway cut across the Southwest. The railroad and Route 66 highway system that followed in the 1920s and 30s stimulated rapid changes in Pueblo life brought by tourism and commercialization of Pueblo art and culture.”The exhibit is open 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. Monday -Friday and also during performing arts events.