Ron Martinez

Isleta Pueblo

Ron Martinez is a potter from Isleta Pueblo. His heritage is half Isleta, half Taos. He signs his work "Looking Elk" and has been active since the 1990s. He seems to prefer making siennaware jars, bowls, plates and figures. He likes to decorate his work with sgraffito Anasazi rock art, human figures, hands, lightning bolts and clouds.

In 1997 Ron was awarded a Native American Internship at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe. In 2000 he earned the Challenge Award at the Santa Fe Indian Market for non-traditional pottery. He was an exhibitor for years at Santa Fe Indian Market and at the Eight Northern Pueblos Arts and Crafts Show.

Ron is a graduate of the Institute of American Indian Arts and has traveled the world working with indigenous artists, leaders and organizers. Ron is affiliated with many national and international networks where he worked or participated in the past. Among these institutions are the East-West Center in Honolulu, the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, the Leadership Institute in Santa Fe, the Aspen Institute and the Academy for Educational Development in Washington D.C.

Ron owns and operates Creative Community Consulting and is a lead trainer at First Peoples Fund. He also works with high school students creating leadership development with the Native American Community Academy, the Brave Girls at the Santa Fe Indian School and the Summer Policy Academy. Ron is also the director of an arts-based program called the Arts and Archeology Academy. His Pueblo Arts Program, housed at the Isleta Resort and Casino, represents more than 300 Pueblo artists.

Ron enjoys making pottery most but he also loves to paint, do ledger drawings, make beadwork and dance in his Pueblo community, at powwow and at hula.