Carved Jar depicting a Hummingbird

Label

Native women potters have long been innovators of method and form; this holds especially true of Puebloan ceramics. Maria Martinez gained international recognition in the early 20th century for her perfection of blackware pottery and for creating the black-on-black design technique together with her husband, Julian Martinez. While her artistic practice and fame grew, she continued to draw from the techniques of her predecessors. Mother-and-daughter ceramicists Vangie Tafoya and Helen Tafoya Henderson, relatives of Maria Martinez, continue to experiment with design, contributing to the legacy of creativity for which San Ildefonso Pueblo is known. These works merge both abstraction and realism in their own unique ovoid forms.

From the 2022 exhibition Unbroken: Native American Ceramics, Sculpture, and Design, curated by Dillen Peace '19, Native American Art Intern and Sháńdíín Brown '20, Native American Art Intern 

Course History

ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Sienna Craig, Winter 2022

Writing Program 5.24, Photographic Representations, Amanda Wetsel, Winter 2023

Writing Program 5.25, Photographic Representations, Amanda Wetsel, Winter 2023

Exhibition History

Unbroken: Native American Ceramics, Sculpture, and Design, Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 22, 2022-March 12, 2023.

Provenance

Mary C. Rohr, Stowe, Vermont; given to present collection, 2017.

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