Frances Suina

Cochiti Pueblo

Frances Suina was a maker of figures and figurines at Cochiti Pueblo. Born at San Ildefonso in 1902, the youngest of Juan Roybal's five daughters, she was orphaned before she was one year old. There's not much more about Frances until she began making smaller clay figures in the 1920s. Gradually her figures became larger and more intricate. By the 1960s, Frances was producing large singing mothers (with one child) and storytellers (with many children).

Louis Naranjo was her son by her first marriage and she had four more children in her second marriage (none of whom became potters). Louis watched his mother making pottery as he grew up but didn't really get into it until Virginia, his wife, suffered a stroke. At that point, Frances and Virginia taught Louis how to make pottery and he went on to become famous for his black bear storytellers.