Black-on-red pottery was the most common type produced at San Ildefonso when Maria was learning the craft, although its use was waning. The railroad arrived in Santa Fe in , making manufactured goods widely available and inaugurating New Mexico as a destination for tourists.
Prior to that time, Hispanic and Pueblo people of the middle and northern Rio Grande Valley depended upon Pueblo ceramics for most of their household cooking and storage needs. By the late s, pottery was being replaced in Pueblo communities by manufactured metal and ceramic wares.
The majority of pottery being produced at the pueblos was intended for sale to the burgeoning curio market, which favored exotic items and small pieces that were easy to transport. These changes produced a discontinuity of pottery-making techniques that did not go unnoticed. They did this in two major ways. They were willing to pay a significant premium over the regular price if the work met their standards, thus encouraging potters to make fewer, but better pieces.
The prizes provided further incentive for potters to create well-made works of art. She began experimenting with pottery in the early s, when most San Ildefonso Pueblo potters were still making the traditional black-on-red ceramic wares.
By smothering the firing pit at the end of the firing process, the flow of air was stifled, thereby resulting in a chemical process that turned the pottery black rather than the traditional bright red. Although still working within the realm of traditional Pueblo pottery making, she pushed the level of the aesthetic to a new height, one that helped launch her long career.
The legacy of Maria Martinez extends far beyond the world of art. By helping to create a demand for well-made pottery, she enabled others in her community to make a living. At the time of her birth, just thirty families lived within the pueblo of San Ildefonso. As a result of her technical mastery, creativity, and innovations, Pueblo pottery continues to develop as a living tradition within American Indian art.
Maria Montoya Martinez. Load more. Related Profiles Johnny Buck. Popovi Da. Machinist, Los Alamos, NM. Donate Today. Artist Details Name. Jar Maria Martinez made this jar by mixing clay with volcanic ash found on her pueblo and building up the basic form with coils of clay that she scraped and smoothed with a gourd tool.
Although other pueblos, such as Santa Clara, had been producing black wares, Maria and Julian invented a technique that would allow for areas of the pottery to have a matte finish and other areas to be a glossy jet black. Through experimentation that began in , they created a style that would become world famous. Part of the unique-ness of San Ildefonso pottery is the clay that is used, which comes from their reservation. Dried clay and volcanic ash are collected yearly from selected locations throughout the reservation, and later combined with water in small batches.
The clay from each pueblo has its own mineral composition, allowing for rich differences in texture and color. The watery clay slip that is used on the black wares, for example, has a rich iron content that turns black when fired in a particular way.
The puki is a bowl-shaped form that supports the bottom of the pot as it is being built. Most commonly, pots are formed with a coil technique, in which long snake-shaped coils are circled around the base of the pot and blended together to create the walls of the vessel.
When the height and the amount of clay are just right, the walls of the pot are smoothed and shaped into curves with pieces of gourd, called kajepes.
The pot is left to partially dry after the form is completed. In its semi-dried state, the pot is ready to be scraped, which refines the shape and removes any irregularity. Then the pot is sanded with sandpaper to rid it of any grit. The red slip is applied next, and the pot must be burnished with a stone before the slip dries completely.
This step is most critical for the glossy nature of the black wares. A decoration is painted onto the polished surface, resulting in matte areas once the piece is fired. Traditionally the men of the pueblo do the painting, but women were taught the process and painted during the times that the men had left the pueblo for work.
Julian replicated and was inspired by many pre-historic designs. He was fond of many motifs, using ancient symbols in new combinations. He often painted the avanyu, the horned water serpent, which he saw as a symbol for the rush of water after a hard rain, and as a metaphor for the pueblo itself. Black wares become so in the firing process.
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