Maria Martinez (1887, San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico – July 20, 1980, San Ildefonso Pueblo) was a Native American artist who created internationally known pottery. Martinez (born Maria Antonia Montoya), her husband Julian, and other family members examined traditional Pueblo pottery styles and techniques to create pieces which reflect the Pueblo people’s legacy of fine artwork and crafts.
Martinez was from the San Ildefonso Pueblo, a community located 20 miles northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico. At an early age, she learned pottery skills from her aunt. During this time, Spanish tinware and Anglo enamelware had become readily available in the Southwest, making the creation of traditional cooking and serving pots less necessary. Traditional pottery making techniques were being lost, but Martinez and her family experimented with different techniques and helped preserve the cultural art.
Creating black ware pottery is a long process consisting of many steps requiring patience and skill. Six distinct processes occur before the pot is ready to be sold. According to Susan Peterson in The Living Tradition of Maria Martinez, these steps include, “finding and collecting the clay, forming a pot, scraping and sanding the pot to remove surface irregularities, applying the iron-bearing slip and burnishing it to a high sheen with a smooth stone, decorating the pot with another slip, and firing the pot."
Martinez was from the San Ildefonso Pueblo, a community located 20 miles northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico. At an early age, she learned pottery skills from her aunt. During this time, Spanish tinware and Anglo enamelware had become readily available in the Southwest, making the creation of traditional cooking and serving pots less necessary. Traditional pottery making techniques were being lost, but Martinez and her family experimented with different techniques and helped preserve the cultural art.
Creating black ware pottery is a long process consisting of many steps requiring patience and skill. Six distinct processes occur before the pot is ready to be sold. According to Susan Peterson in The Living Tradition of Maria Martinez, these steps include, “finding and collecting the clay, forming a pot, scraping and sanding the pot to remove surface irregularities, applying the iron-bearing slip and burnishing it to a high sheen with a smooth stone, decorating the pot with another slip, and firing the pot."
thsi very intresing how it is created and how well known she is for it
ReplyDelete-justin hobbs
The black/ iron color is really cool. It's intriguing that they make their pots similar to the way we are making ours. I like the look of their pottery. I cant wait to see what kind of end products some of my classmates create.
ReplyDelete-Hannah Shuman
6th Period
The shapes of the pottery look perfect, and the black color looks really cool. The number of steps she had to take to make the pottery is crazy, but worth it in the end because it looks great.
ReplyDelete-Garrison Hotchkiss
She is a very technical artist and must have a great deal of patients, because all the steps to make her pottery pitch perfect. I also love all the unique designs in her work.
ReplyDelete-Kyle Bradley
The black on it looks sick! I love the texture of the pots also her designs are so precise and extraordinary. THis is awesome creation
ReplyDeletethe black iron color looks really neat and she has a lot of steps to make it look as good it does. Another example of hardwork paying off.
ReplyDeleteThese are very beautiful pieces! I especially love the third picture how the pot looks especially shiny with the sun shining on it. I can't imagine how long it takes to make just one of those pots!
ReplyDeleteGracie Kate
these are really neat. it is especially neat how they use the black on the clay pot. they are also really beautiful at least from what I've seen.
ReplyDelete- Nathan Daniell
this is really cool looking how she made them that smooth is awesome. plus the colors are cool looking also.
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty neat. They look great, especially the blackware ones.
ReplyDelete- Sam Anderskow
I find it amazing how the pots are so shiny and smooth, especially since i am having such a hard time smoothing the coil pot we're making right now. I love the shiny iridescent finish, it really makes her work unique.
ReplyDeleteI think this is really cool they are so shiny and its crazy that they made that the same way we did. it looks like those took a lot of time to make.
ReplyDeletethose blackware pots look impressive. i admire the time, effort, and detail in her work.
ReplyDelete~Blake Barfield
6th Period
These pots/vases are so pretty! I hope ours turn out similar to that! Its kind of crazy how many steps it takes, but the end result is truly amazing!
ReplyDelete-Anna Jones
Is there a question to go along with this?
ReplyDeleteIf we are only supposed to comment, then I would say that the pots and the color are okay, but the designs are the difficult part. They are very intricate and uniform. I wouldn't put that much effort into a pot because all my work would be lost if someone dropped it... and I probably wouldn't make another one.
These pots are gorgeous and each one is unique in its own way. She is extremely talented and creates beautiful pieces.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing that someone can take clay and form it into such a perfect form with a metallic looking finish.
ReplyDelete-Kevin Moreau
The intricate designs and dedication put into these pots would drive me insane. I definitely don't have that much patience.
ReplyDeletethe pots in the pictures are gorgeous. its amazing how each one are made very different and have very precise designs
ReplyDeleteThese pots look so technical to make and look like they require lots of time, but they look amazing, especially the black ones.
ReplyDelete-Ryan
The pot are really good, but i dont think that i could make one of those
ReplyDeleteThese pots are very unique. They have a very beautiful shine to them. Especially the black ones
ReplyDeleteI like how artistic she is and how creative and precise the pots are. The pots are all different and she is very talented.
ReplyDelete-Liam Bassett
these look very cool and there is no telling how long and how many steps it takes to make these, but its worth it in the end.
ReplyDeleteBrandon cox
They look pretty cool. It probably took forever to make them.
ReplyDelete-Allie Parkerson
That kind of glaze is amazing on the last picture, because its very reflective. And I know all of that took a long time.
ReplyDelete- Ja'la Hughes
this looks very awesome, and looks like it would take alot of time effort to construct
ReplyDelete