Stephanie Rhoades (Snowflake Flower) Storyteller Owl Figurine [SOLD]

This is a charming Pottery Owl Storyteller figurine made by Stephanie "Snowflake Flower" Rhoades of Cochiti Pueblo. The central mother owl features an open mouth — a signature motif of Pueblo storyteller figures representing the song or spoken story. She holds two smaller owlets: one perched proudly on her right wing and another tucked nestled against her left side. The reverse view shows wonderful traditional brushwork, including stylized leaf and feather designs cascading down the head and back, framing the wings. The color palette features traditional Cochiti polychromes using natural clay, a light cream/buff slip background, and dark black plant (bee-weed) paint for the fine feather patterning and facial accents.

Snowflake Flower placed prayer feathers on her figurines, something she started doing in 1983 when her daughter went into a coma.  She continued to put feathers on the figures as a prayer for her recovery and that her prayer would be spread through more and more people as they purchased her pottery.  Finally, 16 years later, her daughter awoke from the coma.

Snowflake Flower was named Estephanita after her grandmother, Estephanita Herrera, but she is known as Stephanie or Snowflake Flower.  She attended the University of New Mexico and received her BS in Education in 1985.  She started making pottery figurines around 1979 and has specialized in storytellers, Nacimientos, owls, and other figurines.

Stephanie Rhoades (1931-2018) Snowflake Flower was an exceptional potter and award winner, and she was featured in a book by Barbara Babcock (see Recommended Reading below).  She made storyteller figurines and Nacimientos that exude an air of nobility yet feature a feeling of pueblo life as well.  She left a wonderful legacy in her pottery figurines.

Condition: very good condition

Provenance: this Stephanie Rhoades (Snowflake Flower) Storyteller Owl Figurine is from the collection of a client from California who purchased it in 1994.

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

TAGS: Cochiti Pueblo, Mary Martin, Ada Suina, storyteller figurines, Pueblo Pottery, Stephanie Rhoades - Snowflake Flower