Seated Female Storyteller with 6 Children and 1 Dog [SOLD]

Cochiti Pueblo potter Juanita Inez Ortiz learned pottery making from her mother, Seferina, and her grandmother, Laurencita Herrera. It is traditional for pueblo potters to teach their children the art of pottery making starting at an early age. Inez's siblings, all of whom are potters, are Virgil, Joyce, and Janice. Inez was the mother of Lisa Holt. Unlike her brother, Virgil, Inez remained with traditional designs and shapes, much like her mother.

This female figurine is dressed in a traditional pueblo dress and she has six children in her arms and on her lap.  Two of the young ones are drinking from a bottle, one holds an alphabet cube, one a book and one a black dog.  The last child has her hands over her ears.

Condition: original condition

Recommended Reading: The Pueblo Storyteller: Development of a Figurative Ceramic Tradition by Barbara Babcock Ph.D.

Provenance: from the collection of a New Mexico resident