Long before Black-on-black pottery became the staple at San Ildefonso Pueblo, potters there had produced a variety of pottery types- Black-on-cream, Black-on-Red and Polychrome types predominately.  Powhoge Polychrome, which was black-on-cream, in the 1850-1880 period gave way to San Ildefonso Polychrome, starting in the 1890s, in which red paint was added to the design.  Concurrently, some potters began abandoning the red paint on the rim in favor of black around the same time.

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Joe Herrera, born into a rich art inheritance through his father's pueblo of Cochiti and his mother's pueblo of San Ildefonso, was painting before he entered the Indian School in Santa Fe. His mother, Tonita Peña (Quah Ah) gave him thorough training in art techniques.

According to Clara Lee Tanner, "Herrera developed three outstanding traits which are reflected in his work-one in which there is a perfectly delineated single dance figure, the second a dance group and, third, an abstract style utilizing native designs. In his execution of the group and single dance figures, there is no competitor for perfection. Often he has used a colored paper to complement the tones in which his subjects are painted. He further enhances the excellent color contrasts by doing very fine work."

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Pop Pina was the daughter of Pop Chalee of Taos Pueblo. Her English name was Betty Jean Hopkins.  She lived with her parents at Taos Pueblo until her father, who was proficient with metal working, was hired to work at the secretive Manhattan Project at Los Alamos in 1943. 

Pop Pina was enrolled in the Santa Fe Indian School in 1935 at age 9, but when her dad was hired as a teacher, she had to leave because children of teachers were not allowed to attend.

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Tonita Peña was born at San Ildefonso Pueblo, but was sent by her father, following the death of her mother, to live with an aunt at Cochiti Pueblo at the age of 12. She spent the remainder of her life there. She had begun painting when she was seven years old. She was the only woman painter in her generation and was part of the original group who participated in the contemporary watercolor movement.  She is considered a San Ildefonso painter.

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José Angela Aguilar, sometimes known as Joe Aguilar, was the son of Susana Aguilar-a well-known potter-and is known to have painted pottery for his mom.  He was the husband of Rosalie Simbola Aguilar, also a potter, for whom he painted pottery.  He was an exceptional painter.  Kenneth Chapman included him on a list of fifteen men who painted pottery at San Ildefonso before 1940.  His son, Alfred Aguilar, said that his father formed pots, as well as painting them.

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   Alfonso Roybal (1898-1955) Awa Tsireh was painting before 1917 while he was still a teenager. He was the oldest of the early group of pueblo painters. His formal education had not extended beyond primary grades. He was versatile in his styles of painting in that he was equally comfortable with representational or semi-realistic.  Most of his work is in the Santa Fe Indian School two-dimensional style, particularly his early work and many of those were single-figure images.

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   Robert Draper was a Navajo born in Chinle, Arizona, of a Navajo mother and a Hopi-Laguna father.  From the age of two, he lived with his grandparents who raised him. He was given their surname when he entered school at the age of eight. He attended Chinle Boarding School on the Navajo Reservation, Inter-Mountain Indian School in Utah for four years, and the Institute of America Indian Arts in Santa Fe. He served a tour of duty in the U. S. Marine Corps.

Draper concentrated on painting in the European or semi-European style, presenting scenes of the beautiful landscapes of the Navajo Reservation.

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Robert Draper was equally adept at painting in miniature scale as in larger scale.  This postcard size painting of a single hogan in the vast area of the Navajo Reservation was rendered in the fine detail that Draper executes in full-scale.  The buttes, sky of billowing clouds, land with snow and rocks and the single hogan spewing smoke are amazingly detailed.  Draper was a master artist who passed away much too soon.  It is to our benefit that he left a legacy of extraordinary paintings to  be enjoyed for decades by collectors.

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The painting style of Calvin Toddy could not be more different than that of his famous father, Beatien Yazz.  Whereas Beatien painted in the early 20th century Santa Fe Indian School style, Calvin paints more in the European art style. His paintings in miniature scale are absolutely of the finest detail imaginable. His brush stroke is sure and firm. The leaves on the cottonwood tree and the paint on the horse are extremely detailed.

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Dorothy Trujillo, who passed away in 1999, was an outstanding potter. She was originally from Jemez Pueblo, but moved to Cochiti following her marriage to Onofre Trujillo, and obtained permission to make pottery using Cochiti clay.

Dorothy was one of the early potters to make storytellers.  She was from a family of outstanding potters. Her sisters, Mary E. Toya, Marie Edna Coriz, Alma Concha Loretto, Fannie Wall Loretto, and Lenora Lupe Lucero, are famous potters as well.  Interestingly, her sisters also married out of their native pueblo and moved to the pueblo of their spouses.

In true Cochiti Pueblo tradition, Dorothy made her figurine with eyes closed and mouth open. The closed eyes represent "thought" and the open mouth represents "storytelling." Her adult holds four children.

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   Mary Martin, who passed away in 2011, was one of the potters who specialized in making storyteller figurines.  According to Barbara Babcock in her book The Pueblo Storyteller,

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In the 1960s and 1970s, Dextra Quotskuyva Nampeyo worked with her mother, Rachel Namingha, and painted on her pottery the traditional Sikyatki designs made famous by the Nampeyo family. She continued this for a number of years, yet she never repeated the same design ever, according to her.  Later she developed her own unique style of design which she continued using throughout her career.

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   Grace Navasie-Lomahquahu is a daughter of Joy Navasie.  She started making pottery around 1980 and, at that time, her mother painted the designs for her.  Grace now does the painting as well as the construction.

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This painting by Ha So De shows a Skinwalker as a wolf possibly attempting to claim the body of the female who has passed away.  The young boy is attempting to keep him from doing so.  Tony Abeyta said the painting was finished by his dad in 1981.  He remembers this because he was 14 years old and his dad asked him to paint the faces of the young boy and the Skinwalker because Ha So De said he was not good with painting faces.

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Ha So De painted this image in the late 1980s and it was purchased by the owners of Kiva Publishing, which, in 1994, produced 225 serigraph prints from this original. 

Ha So De began his art career at the early age of 11 by drawing his first creations on canyon walls on the Navajo Reservation. By age 32 he was published in Art in America. He developed a markedly unique style of broad brush strokes and flowing lines, at times appearing almost nonchalant. He outlined his figures in colorful bands, reminiscent of multiple borders on the Navajo rugs he must have seen the women weaving as he grew up on the reservation. He seemed unconcerned with small detail but only with the sweep and dash of movement in free spirited scenes. His had a good sense of color and contrast.

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   Narciso Platero Abeyta (1918-1998) Ha So De - Fiercely Ascending was known for his Indian-themed paintings, which, stylistically, are atypical of most of the Indian art of his generation. Abeyta attended the Santa Fe Indian School and the University of New Mexico. He also participated in exhibitions throughout the United States and in Paris. He won awards at the San Francisco Fair and at the New Mexico State Fair.

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This Acoma jar is easily attributable to the famous Mary Histia as there are others of the same or very similar design that are documented as her work.  A very similar jar in the Museum of New Mexico Collection (45135/12) is identified as having been made by Mary Histia in 1951.  Another quite similar example from a private Santa Fe collection has been attributed to Mary Histia and had been made in the 1940s. Lanmon & Harlow 2013 [443,25.40]

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This fringed white braided Hopi Pueblo sash is often called the "wedding sash" as it is one of the items presented to the bride as part of her wedding outfit. It is also sometimes called the "rain sash" for the fringe symbolizes falling rain. The sash is woven by hand from handspun cotton. Fragments of similar sashes have been found in prehistoric pueblo sites, attesting to it being an ancient form of Southwestern Pueblo weaving.

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Eagles are very important to many Native American tribes and using the image of an eagle as a design element in paintings, weavings, basketry, etc. is a recognition of that importance.  Hopi capture eagles and secure them on rooftops at the pueblo for ceremonial purposes.  They are taken care of, fed appropriately, and given ceremonial blessings.  Small 2^nd Mesa coiled plaque are made specifically for an eagle and taken to the roof and placed with the eagle in captivity.

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The Hopi Salako Katsinas-male and female-appear during the Salako Ceremony, a ceremony that is held very infrequently, maybe every decade or so.  The katsinas are brought into position by Eototo and Hahai-i-Wuhti, and specific locations are marked as circles of cornmeal by Eototo.  The male and female Salako Katsinas rest in these circles bowing and dipping until beckoned to another set of circles by Hahai-i-Wuhti.  They advance one at a time to their new positions.

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