Resources

Santo Domingo pot, unknown potter

When compiling something like this website, a number of different resources come into play. Over the years some authors have invested considerable time and resources of their own in researching and cataloging who the various pueblo artists are (were), where they are (were), what they made, what awards they earned, who they are related to, etc. It's not an easy undertaking as so much of the data is essentially contained as "oral history." That said, there are some reputable and reliable sources available for those who chose to dig deeper into the subject of Puebloan pottery. I first started building this site as part of my own immersive education process.

In my creation of this website, I have relied heavily on the photos and data of Andrea Fisher Fine Pottery of Santa Fe, NM, as they present what are most likely the largest and best photos of the pottery that has passed through their business. I also know that most of the folks who work there have years of education, experience and museum training behind them and they know what Pueblo pottery is about. I have used other resources to a lesser extent and those are attributed below or on the pages where they are used.

My text for this website has come from collecting tidbits of data from all across the web and from many of the artists themselves in face-to-face situations. That collection/compilation process has shown me the need for a website such as this because so many purveyors of Southwestern, Mata Ortiz and Pueblo pottery on the web have simply copy-pasted all their biographical data about the artists. Many of them use books compiled in the 1990s (or before) that were based on questionable data collection methods. When it comes to family trees and who an artist most likely is (or was), some of those books are simply wrong. And so many who have copied that data have tried to dress it up a bit, only to muddy the waters further. My effort here has been to clear the waters a bit and inject some new data into the stream. That said, I know I'm significantly more successful in simply displaying a few of their creations than I am in saying anything meaningful about their lives...

This is a living website and any information contained within it is subject to change should I get better info.

Print Resources I've used

• Acoma & Laguna Pottery, by Rick Dillingham, © 1992, School of American Research Press
• All That Glitters, the Emergence of Native American Micaceous Art Pottery in Northern New Mexico, by Duane Anderson, © 1999, School of American Research Press
• Ancient Peoples of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau, Steven R. Sims, © 2008/2016, Routledge
• Historic Hopi Ceramics, Edwin L. Wade and Lea S. McChesney, © 1981, Peabody Museum Press
• Historic Pottery of the Pueblo Indians, 1600-1880, by Larry Frank and Francis H. Harlow, © 1990, Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.
• Hopi-Tewa Pottery: 500 Artist Biographies, by Gregory Schaaf, © 1998, Center for Indigenous Arts & Studies
• Legacy, Southwest Indian Art at the School of American Research, © 1999, School of American Research Press
• Nampeyo and Her Pottery, by Barbara Kramer, © 1996, The University of Arizona Press, Tucson
• Navajo Folk Art, by Chuck and Jan Rosenak, © 2008, Rio Nuevo Publishers
• Pottery of the Pueblos of New Mexico, 1700-1940, by Jonathan Batkin, © 1987, The Taylor Museum of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center
• Pueblo Indian Pottery, 750 Artist Biographies, by Gregory Schaaf, © 2000, Center for Indigenous Arts & Studies
• Southern Pueblo Pottery, 2000 Artist Biographies, by Gregory Schaaf, © 2002, Center for Indigenous Arts & Studies
• Spirit Windows, Native American Rock Art of Southeastern Utah, Winston B. Hurst and Joe Pachak, © 1992, State of Utah, Division of Parks and Recreation, Edge of the Cedars State Park
• The Legacy of a Master Potter, Nampeyo and Her Descendants, by Mary Ellen and Laurence Blair. © 1999, Treasure Chest Books
• The Miracle of Mata Ortiz, by Walter P. Parks, © 1993, The Coulter Press
• Zuni Pottery, Marian Rodee and James Ostler, © 1986, Schiffer Publishing

Online Resources I've used:

• Wikipedia
• JSTOR
• Ancient Nations
• King Galleries
• Penfield Gallery of Indian Arts
• School for Advanced Research
• First People Pots
• A:shiwi (Zuni) Pottery and the Nahohai family

Academic Resources I've used:

Academia.edu

• Archaeological Expressions of Ancestral Hopi Social Organization, by Kelley Hays-Gilpin and Dennis Gilpin, 2018
• Pueblo Ceremonialism in the Jornada Mogollon Region, by Lora Jackson Legare
• Sacred Mesas: Pueblo Time, Space, and History in the Aftermath of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, by Joseph R. Aguilar and Robert W. Preucel, 2013
• The Diffusion of Scarlet Macaws and Mesoamerican Motifs into the Mimbres Region, by Patricia A. Gilman, Marc Thompson and Kristina C. Wyckoff, 2015

American Historical Review

Women, Men and Cycles of Evangelism in the Southwest Borderlands, AD 750 to 1750, by James F. Brooks, 2013

Brigham Young University

Fremont Ceramic Designs and Their Implications, Katie K. Richards, 2014

Friends of Mogollon Archaeology

Evidence for Possible Mimbres Migration into the Jornada: Introducing the Eastern Mimbres San Andres Aspect, a chapter from Collected Papers from the 20th Biennial Mogollon Archaeology Conference, by Alexander Kurota, Thatcher Rogers, and Evan S. Sternberg, edited by Lonnie C. Ludeman, 2019.

The Center for Desert Archaeology

• The Roosevelt Community Development Study, edited by James M. Heidke and Miriam T. Stark, 1995
• Sunset Crater Archaeology: The History of a Volcanic Landscape, edited by Mark D. Elson, 2011

The Society for American Archaeology

The Lives of Painted Bowls at Ancestral Pueblos in East-Central Arizona, by Scott Van Keuren and Grace E. Cameron, 2015

KIVA: the Journal of Southwestern Anthropology and History

Toward Common Ground: Racing as an Integrative Strategy in Prehistoric Central Arizona, by Will Russell, Hoski Schaafsma and Katherine Spielmann, 2011

Southern Methodist University

The Jicarilla Apaches and the Archaeology of the Taos Region, by B. Sunday Eiselt, 2009

The Archaeological Society of New Mexico

Unit Pueblos and the Mimbres Problem, by Stephen H. Lekson, 2000

University of Arizona Press

• Ancestral Hopi Migrations, edited by Patrick D. Lyons, 2003
• Leaving Mesa Verde: Peril and Change in the Thirteenth-Century Southwest, edited by Timothy A. Kohler, Mark D. Varien and Aaron M. Wright, 2010
• Potters and Communities of Practice, edited by Linda S. Cordell and Judith A. Habicht-Mauche, 2012
• Settlement, Subsistence and Society in the Late Zuni Prehistory, by Keith W. Kintigh, 1985
• The Social Life of Pots: Glaze Ware and Cultural Dynamics in the Southwest, AD 1250-1680, edited by Judith A. Habicht-Mauche, Suzanne L. Eckert and Deborah L. Huntley, 2006

There are some other good resources out there, too, if you search wide and far. The problem is there is so little about so many of the artists in my list and so much of what there is is copy-pasted misinformation. I list here only those I have used for more than a hint of data here and there.