Polar Bear with her Three Cubs [SOLD]

Today, several families at Isleta Pueblo are making pottery, but the Teller family is distinctive because of its use of grey, buff and white slips.  This style was developed by Stella Teller, the matriarch of the family.  She had begun making pottery in the early 1960s and eventually became well known for her use of the color grey and adding turquoise hieshe necklaces to the figures whether it be human or animal.  Stella also polishes the white slip on her animal pottery figurines.

This polar bear has her eyes closed and what appears as a smile as she entertains her cubs by letting them climb all over her.  The two on her back are playing and a third one is climbing up her side. The white slip is stone polished, the grey is matte finish, and the adult bear wears a painted turquoise necklace.

The figurine is signed Stella Teller Isleta, N.M.

Condition: the Polar Bear with her Three Cubs is in original condition

Provenance: from a client in the Albuquerque area.

Recommended Reading: Southern Pueblo Pottery 2,000 Artist Biographies by Gregory Schaaf