Stella Teller Polar Bear with Two Cubs and a Child [SOLD]

This is a highly unique pottery figurine by award-winning Isleta Pueblo artist Stella Teller. One does not associate polar bears with Isleta Pueblo but Stella chose to use the glossy white slip she had to fashion polar bears. The adult bear is seated, has her legs crossed, on which is seated a small child. A pair of bear cubs hang onto the adult's shoulders and arm. Facial features are outlined in grey slip. The adult bear wears a real turquoise necklace.

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

Stella J. Teller (1929- ), who began working in clay at the age of eight, has a long career of making storyteller,a nacimiento, and other figurines and has consistently won prizes for them since she made her first one. Her pottery is distinguished from traditional Isleta Polychrome wares by its distinctive colors, which she says are all natural. The light gray, which has become her trademark, is produced by mixing white clay with manganese. She was one of the first potters to insert turquoise cabs into the clay. Not to be considered parochial, Stella Teller expanded the repertoire to include storyteller figurines representing Navajo, Isleta Pueblo, Apache, and Hopi males and females. She is credited with making the first storyteller to represent a Navajo. She is likewise the first to make Polar Bear figures.

Condition: very good condition

Provenance: this Stella Teller Polar Bear with Two Cubs and a Child is from a client of Adobe Gallery from Colorado

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

TAGS: figurines, Isleta Pueblo, pottery, Navajo, Apache, Hopi, Chris, Mona, Robin, Stella Teller