In the dominant culture, March is Women’s History Month. For our peoples, “women” and “history” are inextricably intertwined, despite the post-contact erasure of most of our female ancestors’ faces and voices in the public sphere by an invading culture that held women in low regard. With that said, Women’s History Month seems a good time to bring you the work of some of our extraordinarily talented women artisans by way of our Friday Feature series.
Currently, we have multiple women artists with pieces in one particular inventory category: Pottery. It’s not a surprise; here, both men and women are potters, but it’s a medium that is especially popular today among women artists. And we carry the work a number of women who represent their medium expertly and beautifully.
Most of Taos Pueblo’s iconic pottery, of course, is of the micaceous variety. We’ve talked about it here before, on a number of occasions: It’s a local clay, red in color, shot through with flecks of mica that exists organically in the earth itself. The potters here are permitted to draw their supply from a pit reserved specifically for them. Of the potters we’ll be introducing (or, in some cases, re-introducing) to you this month, all but one of them specialize in micaceous pottery.
One of the hallmarks of Taos Pueblo micaceous pottery is its spare and elegant style, almost, but not quite, utilitarian in appearance. Some of the pieces are utilitarian, of course, designed for actual use (even if not every day) as well as artistic beauty. But most are strictly art pieces, created in a simple style that, thanks to the natural shimmer the mica provides, needs little additional ornamentation. Some potters will add incising or relief work, while others will occasionally add a small accent in the form of turquoise, but the pottery is virtually never painted, and most potters in fact simply rely on the work’s own lines to draw form and shape from the glimmering clay.
Such is the case with the three potters whose work we bring you today, each of whom possesses a singular style, yet adheres to traditional classic forms and styles. From their description in the Other Artists: Pottery gallery here on the site:
Three of Taos Pueblo’s potters create affordable miniatures on a regular basis. All are fashioned in the traditional way from the Pueblo’s iconic micaceous clay: The tiny pots, bowls, and ollas are all hand-coiled in the same manner as full-sized pieces, their only ornamentation the glimmer of the native mica, and fired to varying finishes.
Micaceous clay
Add $10 per pot for shipping, handling, and insurance
We also highlighted the work of these and other potters at the holidays. As I wrote then of the two pieces shown in the photo at the top of this post, by an artist who is especially skilled at creating miniature versions of full-sized art bowls and plates:
OLIVIA MARTINEZ
Olivia creates miniatures (as well as full-sized versions) of Taos Pueblo’s traditional micaceous clayware. Done in vintage style, hers are nonetheless given a more “finished” look, with a bit more smoothness and shaping than some others.
Miniature traditional plate and bowl are both still available ($30 each).
Fluted plate is 1″ high by 3″ across; bowl is 1″ high by 2.25″ across (dimensions approximate).
Next we come to Wings’s cousin, who likewise specializes in miniatures, but with a simpler, more functional look:
BERNADETTE TRACK
Bernadette has long worked in micaceous clay as her primary medium. She creates pottery of ordinary size, as well, but is perhaps best known for her miniatures, tiny versions of the traditional Pueblo pots that to this day see regular use: pots for cooking, holding water, and storage; and wedding vases used for the ceremonies their name implies.
Wedding vase sold. Still available: five pots — three plain; two horsehair-look ($30 each). Pots range from 1-5/8″ to 2-1/8″ high (dimensions approximate).
Last, we come to vintage-style miniatures done the old way:
LEATRICE GOMEZ
A part of the multi-talented Gomez family, Leatrice does both small and ordinary-sized pieces in true “vintage” style. It’s coarse-finished clayware intended largely for functional, utilitarian purposes, actual daily use, and her miniatures pay homage to those pieces, in use here for a thousands years and more:
The olla is sold. Pots at left and right are still available ($25 each). Pot at left is 1.25″ high by 1.25″ across; pot at right, 1.25″ high by 1-3/8″ across (dimensions approximate).
Each of the women potters whose work is represented here has her own unique style, but each is also eminently traditional, creating these tiny facsimiles in the old way. And each, while well-known locally, deserves to have her work recognized in all its singular traditionalism for a much wider audience.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2015; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owners.
