Cochiti Female Storyteller Figurine with 8 Kids by Ada Suina

Cochiti Pueblo artist Ada Suina presents us with a happy female figure expressed clearly in her face.  Her mouth gives us a wide smile, her cheeks are full, and her eyes are open and expressive.  The eight children are playful and happy as well. Ada dressed her female pottery figurine in a traditional pueblo dress, over one shoulder and under the other.  The dress is over a printed blouse with long sleeves.  Notice that the dress sways naturally between her legs, a touch not often seen by other potters.  Ada also used a peach-color slip in addition to the three normal colors: black, cream, and rust.  It is these extra details that make Ada’s storytellers more natural looking and more collectible.

Ada Suina (b.1930) still lives at Cochiti Pueblo.  She no longer makes pottery, however.  She made her first storyteller in 1977.  She previously had been busy raising her eleven children.  Around her mid-forties, she was encouraged to make pottery and her mother-in-law, Aurelia Suina, taught her how to fire pottery.  Ada learned well and her storytellers exhibit her artistic natural talent for presenting the human form in clay.

Condition: excellent condition

Provenance: this Cochiti Female Storyteller Figurine with 8 Kids by Ada Suina is from an estate in Colorado

Recommended Reading: Clay Mirror - From Monos to storytellers: Reflection from Cochiti Pueblo - The Tom & Charlotte Mittler Collection