Enterprising Women (original) (raw)

Santana and Adam Martinez's adobe house at San Ildefonso, New Mexico.
Photo by Susan Peterson.

DEMONSTRATING THEIR SKILL Maria and Julian were invited to demonstrate their craft at fairs and expositions. They spent their honeymoon creating pottery at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904. They demonstrated at the Panama California Expo in San Diego, 1915, the Chicago World’s Fair, 1934, and the Golden Gate International Expo in 1939. Native American craft fairs provided other marketing opportunities, and by signing her work Martinez both heightened her visibility and commanded higher prices. In 1954, she won the Craftsmanship Medal, the nation’s highest honor, from the American Institute of Architects.
Maria Martinez forming pottery by hand.
Photos by Susan Peterson.

MARIA MARTINEZ (1887-1980), renowned Native American potter, sparked a resurgence of the indigenous and ancient craft of pottery to create a profitable enterprise. As a child, Maria Martinez learned the traditional skill from her aunt, Nicolasa, and later with her husband, Julian, created the first black-on-black ware that helped transform the economy of the San Ildefonso pueblo.

At first, Maria Martinez made the traditional polychrome pottery of her village, with black and other colors on a background of white or tan. She shaped the pots by carefully coiling the clay, then smoothing it with gourd scrapers. Her pots were recognized as the thinnest, most beautifully shaped in the pueblo. Her husband, an accomplished artist in his own right, decorated the pots. In the 1920s, Smithsonian Institution archaeologists asked Maria and Julian to reproduce 2000-year-old black shards unearthed during an archaeological excavation in 1908. Experimenting for over a decade, the couple recreated the black ware using a technique that excluded oxygen during the firing process. This success made their pottery and artistic skill famous.

Maria Martinez (seated, right) with her family at San Ildefonso, 1975. Five generations have continued this rich tradition of artistic skill and innovative design. Today, their great-granddaughter, Barbara Gonzales (standing, yellow shirt), and her sons, Cavan and Aaron, are skilled potters whose work is in high demand.
Photo by Susan Peterson.

As her pots attracted attention for their unique beauty, Martinez began to charge modest prices. With the growing demand, she realized that her work could enrich the life of the entire pueblo artistically and economically. She generously shared her techniques with others in the tribal manner. As Maria drew on traditional San Ildefonso design elements, such as the feather and the avanyu or plumed serpent, her work became the link between an ancient Indian craft and a modern art form.

Martinez was the matriarch of a "craft lineage" that continues today through five generations of her family. In a career that spanned seven decades, her pottery brought honors and acclaim, revitalizing the art and the economy of her pueblo.

Portrait Photo at top — Maria Martinez, 1910-1915. Museum of New Mexico.