Maria Martinez: life and works

Maria Montoya Martinez (1887, San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico – July 20, 1980, San Ildefonso Pueblo) was a Native American artist who created internationally known pottery. Martinez (born Maria Poveka Montoya), her husband Julian, and additional family members, including her son Popovi Da, examined established Pueblo pottery styles and techniques to Make pieces which reflect the Pueblo people’s legacy of fine artwork and crafts. The works of Maria Martinez, and especially her black ware pottery, survive in many museums, including the Smithsonian, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Denver Art Museum, and more. The Penn Museum in Philadelphia holds eight vessels – three plates and five jars – signed either “Marie” or “Marie & Julian”.

Maria Martinez was from the San Ildefonso Pueblo, a community located 20 miles northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico. At an to the lead age, she theoretical pottery skills from her aunt and recalls this “learning by seeing” starting at age eleven, as she watched her aunt, grandmother, and father’s cousin work on their pottery during the 1890s. During this time, Spanish tinware and Anglo enamelware had become readily comprehensible in the Southwest, making the commencement of time-honored cooking and serving pots less necessary. Traditional pottery making techniques were bodily lost, but Martinez and her relations experimented with different techniques and helped maintain the cultural art.