SACRAMENTO, CA.- The Crocker Art Museum announced the opening of “Pueblo Dynasties: Master Potters from Matriarchs to Contemporaries,” an exhibition of more than 200 vessels that highlight techniques of the legendary matriarchs of New Mexico and Arizona as well as their artistically adventuresome descendants, whose works have become increasingly elaborate, detailed, personal, and even political over time.

Most of the works in the exhibition — including those by revered pueblo matriarchs of New Mexico and Arizona — were recently given to the Crocker ceramics collection by the late Loren G. Lipson, M.D., who sponsored the acquisition of signature works by many of the most important American Indian potters, both historic and contemporary. The Crocker’s overall ceramics collection is one of the largest public holdings in the United States and includes more than 5,000 examples from cultures around the world.

“The Museum’s collection of pueblo vessels started more than a decade ago when we added a work by Joseph Cerno depicting a train. We felt the train an appropriate image for the Crocker as the Museum’s founder, E. B. Crocker, was instrumental in building the Transcontinental Railroad,” says Lial A. Jones, the Crocker Art Museum's Mort & Marcy Friedman Director & CEO. “It is a pleasure to introduce works by the Cerno family and so many other talented pueblo families to the community through this exhibition.”

This exhibition is one of two shows at the Crocker this fall exploring the art and culture of several distinct Native American communities. When I Remember I See Red: American Indian Art and Activism in California features contemporary art by First Californians and other American Indian artists with strong ties to the state. Spanning the past five decades, the exhibition includes more than 65 works in various media from more than 40 artists. On view October 20, 2019 — January 26, 2020.

BACKGROUND: THE ART AND THE ARTISTS
American Indians of the Southwest began to make pottery at least 2,000 years ago, passing their skills through the generations — a tradition that continues to this day. Geographic variations in clay, along with local preferences for certain designs and shapes, meant that recognizable styles became associated with certain villages, which the Spanish called pueblos.

With the introduction of the railroad to the region in the late 19th century came a market for pottery specifically made as art. Soon, many makers began to sign their work, and individual potters became known as their pieces were collected. These artists drew inspiration from their ancestors and built upon established traditions.

Though the names of early potters have been lost to history, three of the best-known ceramic families of the Southwest — Nampeyo who are Hopi-Tewa; Martinez, of San Ildefonso; and Tafoya, from Santa Clara — are represented by up to six generations of ceramists who re-established traditions that go back farther in time.

The Nampeyo Family
The best-known line of Hopi-Tewa potters began with Nampeyo (ca. 1856–1942), who was born on the Hopi reservation in northeastern Arizona. Nampeyo learned the fundamentals of potterymaking from her paternal grandmother who was Hopi, and her mother who was Tewa.

After seeing numerous prehistoric pieces excavated from the village of Sikyátki by anthropologist Jesse Fewkes in 1895, Nampeyo began to adapt old designs to her own pots and, in so doing, garnered a reputation. Nampeyo sold these pieces to traders who distributed them widely. By teaching others in her village her techniques, she started the Sikyátki Revival, which continues today.

When Nampeyo began to lose her sight in 1920, she continued to make coiled pots but relied on her three daughters, Annie Healing Nampeyo (1884– 1968), Nellie Douma Nampeyo (1896–1978), and Fannie Polacca Nampeyo (1900–1987), to decorate and fire them. They, in turn, passed their skills to their children.

Pueblo Dynasties includes numerous examples by the senior Nampeyo and her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren, who are collectively renowned for their finely wrought polychrome (multi-colored) designs, which are founded in tradition and then individually interpreted by each potter.

The Martinez Family
San Ildefonso potters north of Santa Fe are celebrated for their elegant black-on-black pottery, though they too produced — and continue to make — polychrome ware. While the earliest pieces by Maria Montoya Martinez (1887–1980) were polychromes, she popularized the black-ware style, which was widely exhibited across the country and sold well to buyers in the Southwest and beyond.

Martinez was the first potter to consistently sign her pieces. She worked closely with family members, collaborating with her husband Julian (ca. 1885– 1943), son Popovi Da (1922–1971), and daughter-in-law Santana Roybal (1909–2002). She also fostered the talent of grandson Tony Da (1940–2008), who received acclaim for his innovative designs and meticulous technique.

The family line continues through multiple direct and indirect descendants. Great-granddaughter Barbara Gonzales (born 1947), for instance, combines black-on-black decoration with sgraffito (incising) and inset stones, often incorporating spiders which symbolize good luck. Gonzales’s sons also make pottery. Cavan Gonzales (born 1970) returned to making boldly decorated polychromes, and many others represented in “Pueblo Dynasties” have extended Martinez family traditions.

The Tafoya Family
Deeply carved pottery is primarily associated with Santa Clara Pueblo potters, based northwest of Santa Fe. There, Sara Fina Tafoya (ca. 1863–1949) started a family line that includes many of today’s most respected makers.

Tafoya is known for large, elegant storage jars, most of which are undecorated, though some of her pieces include scalloped rims and impressed or carved designs. Her talents continued through three of her children: Christina Naranjo (1891–1980), Camilio Tafoya (1902–1995), and Margaret Tafoya (1904–2001), all of whom practiced a style of deep carving that established the family’s recognizable aesthetic.

There are now dozens of Tafoya family descendants. Christina Naranjo’s daughter Mary Cain (1915–2010) and granddaughter Linda Cain (born 1949) followed in her footsteps, just two among many of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to work in clay. Linda Cain’s daughters are the esteemed sisters Autumn Borts-Medlock (born 1967) and Tammy Garcia (born 1969), the latter represented in Pueblo Dynasties by a vessel with an unusual Pacific Northwest bear design.

“It has been a remarkable experience to see this collection come together, because it provides an opportunity to see the fascinating directions that the art has taken as each generation builds on the traditions to create something new,” says the Museum’s Associate Director and Chief Curator Scott A. Shields, Ph.D. “Future generations will most certainly bring additional innovations, which will contribute to and expand upon the accomplishments of established families and, perhaps, establish new dynasties of their own.”