Pauline Romero

Jemez Pueblo

Anita Pauline Romero is a potter from Jemez Pueblo who was born in September, 1962. As a teenager she learned the basics of the Jemez traditional way of making pottery from her mother, Persingula R. Tosa, and grandmother, Lupe Romero. She still uses designs she learned from both in her work.

Early in her career as a potter, Pauline was making bowls and vases with the soft red Jemez slip, then either painting designs on them or using the sgraffito technique to scratch butterfly and feather designs into their surfaces. Then she moved into making melon shapes using red and buff slips.

Today, she seems to specialize in highly polished red ware pots, bowls and wedding vases with red and buff slips and the occasional carved or sgraffito panel.

Pauline's work has earned several First and Second Place ribbons at juried competitions like Santa Fe Indian Market, the Gallup InterTribal Ceremonial and the New Mexico State Fair.

Pauline taught both her daughters, Leonore and Krista Romero, and their children (even their youngest) the traditional art. Pauline signs her pottery: Pauline Romero, Jemez.