MARIA POVEKA MARTINEZ - (1887-1980)

Maria Poveka Martinez is best known for the black-on-black that she developed with her husband, Julian. In a lifetime that lasted nearly a century, the self-taught potter re-discovered the ancient pottery techniques of her people, taught them to others, and brought the knowledge and appreciation of Native American arts to a world-wide audience. Her once-dying pueblo is now a thriving crafts community, her gift of pride in their heritage her most lasting legacy to her people. Today, ’s extended family carries on the tradition of fine pottery making she began.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT – MARIA POVEKA MARTINEZ

“Out of the silences of meditation come purity and power which eventually become apparent in our art: the many spirits which enter about us, in us, are transformed within us, moving from an endless part not gone, not dead, but with a threshold that is the present. From this time sense, for this experience deep within, our forms are created.”1

1. Quoted in: “Surrounded by Beauty.” http://www.artsmia.org/surrounded-by-beauty/southwest/martinez_home.html

RESUME – MARIA POVEKA MARTINEZ

1887* Born María Antonia Montoya, Pueblo of San Ildefonso, name: “Po-Ve-Ka” meaning Water Lily

1896-1898 St. Catherine’s Indian School, Santa Fe, NM

1904 Married (1897-1943) Julian and Maria demonstrate pottery making at the St. Louis World’s Fair

1908 Archeologist Edgar Lee Hewitt asked Maria and Julian to reconstruct Anasazi black pottery found in Frijoles Canyon

19__ Worked at the Museum of New Mexico as a pottery demonstrator

1912 Learned to make black pottery

1914 Panama-California Exposition, San Diego, CA

1915 Demonstrated pottery making at the San Diego World’s Fair

1919 Invented the black-on-black decoration

1923 Reversal of pattern with shiny body and matte design Maria begins signing her pots

1934 Chicago World’s Fair Bronze medal for Indian Achievement, Indian Fire Council (First woman to receive this award)

1939 Pottery making at the World’s Fair

1943 Julian Martinez died

1943-1956 Works with daughter-in-law Santana Roybal Martinez

1954 Craftsmanship Medallion, American Institute of Architects French Palmes Académiques for contributions to the artistic world

1956 Works with son Popovi Da

1969 Minnesota Museum of Art Symbol of Man Award

1971 Retired from active pottery making

1973 Initial Grant for the National Endowment for the Arts to fund a Martinez pottery workshop

1974 First Annual Governor’s Award, New Mexico Arts Commission

1980 Died, Pueblo of San Ildefonso, NM

*Generally accepted date. Actual date not known.

BIOGRAPHY – MARIA POVEKA MARTINEZ

Maria Martinez was born Maria Antonia Montoya between 1881 and 1887; the exact date is not recorded but in general, the 1887 date is used. She was a member of the pueblo community in San Ildefonso, a small community northwest of Santa Fe, NM, on the eastern bank of the , which has been inhabited since the 14th century. Her Tewa name was Po-Ve-Ka, which means “Pond Lily.” Her father worked primarily as a farmer but also did carpentry and worked some as a cowboy. Martinez attended a government grammar school until 1896 when she and one of her sisters left to spend two years at St. Catherine’s Indian School in Santa Fe, NM.

Pottery making during her childhood was strictly for utilitarian pieces – cooking, food and water storage, etc., as mass-produced ware was increasingly more available and convenient. Martinez, however, was interested in watching some of the talented potters of the pueblo, including her aunt, Nicolasa Peña, and taught herself the traditional coiled pottery making. When Maria returned from St. Catherine’s she concentrated on mastering the techniques and was able to support herself making coil-built bowls and ollas.

Maria married Julian Martinez, also of the pueblo, in 1904, and together they formed a partnership in pottery making. Julian gathered, hauled and purified the clay she was to use, and after the pots were made, he painted them. Early in their marriage they participated in the St. Louis World’s Fair, demonstrating pottery, dancing, and singing, as part of an exhibition of Native American tribal life. Later they were to participate in similar exhibitions in San Diego, Chicago, and San Francisco.

The black ware that was to become their signature work came about in a series of fortunate “accidents.” In 1908 and 1909 Edgar Lee Hewitt, a member of the anthropology and archaeology department at the Museum of New Mexico, was working on a nearby excavation, and Julian was hired to help. When some ancient black shards were discovered, Hewitt approached Maria, already recognized as an exceptional potter, to see if she could replicate the technique. Both Maria and Julian worked for a time at the Museum of New Mexico, trying to duplicate the black color, but it wasn’t until 1910 that an unplanned smothering of the fire with fine particles of manure resulted in dense black smoke and the black pots they were seeking. The couple continued to perfect the technique, making larger pots, and in 1919 hit on the method of black-on-black design that became their hallmark. The first pots had black matte bodies with polished designs. Later, by painting designs with slip on the highly polished black pots before they were fired, they produced a body that was a shiny black with soft, matte black designs. While Maria made the pots, Julian did the decorating, a pattern they were to continue throughout their working life together. Julian, in addition to experimenting with paints and clays, collected the ancient pueblo designs and revived old symbols such as the water serpent. At the same time, despite tradition, Maria began signing her pots, as buyers wanted assurance they were getting a real “Maria Martinez.” As the pottery became popular and demand increased, Maria and Julian taught the process to other members of the community as well as their extended family, and in time the distinctive pottery became well known and much sought after. After Julian’s death in 1943 Maria worked with her son Adam and his wife Santana and later another son, Popovi Da. It was Popovi who suggested adding the month and year of the firing to the pots along with the signature to further distinguish authentic pieces. Maria continued as an active potter into her 80’s, retiring from active potting in 1971 and turning over the pottery to her family. She lived on at the pueblo for nearly another decade, passing away in 1980 in the same place where she had been born and spent most of her life.

Martinez was the recipient of a number of awards over her long lifetime. In 1934 she was the first woman to receive a bronze medal for Indian Achievement by the Indian Fire Council. She received the 1954 Craftsmanship Medallion from the American Institute of Architects and also the French Palmes Académiques for her contributions to the artistic world. In 1969 she was honored with the Minnesota Museum of Art’s Symbol of Man Award, and in 1974 the New Mexico Arts Commission’s First Annual Governor’s Award. She was invited to the White House by a succession of presidents; was awarded honorary doctorate degrees by four colleges, including the University of New Mexico and the University of Colorado; and was asked by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who collected her work, to lay the cornerstone for the Rockefeller Center in New York City. Recognition of her stature in the world of ceramics was shown by the visits of both Shoji Hamada and Bernard Leach to her pueblo to meet her and to watch her work.

Maria Martinez was an extraordinarily gifted potter, arguably one of the best-known of the 20th century, but perhaps her greater gift was her revival of the dying art of pottery- making in the pueblo villages and the rediscovery of the ancient techniques of her people. Because of her skills and her willingness to share her talents, the San Ildefonso pueblo is today a thriving craft center, and equally important, the beauty of Native American crafts is well recognized as an important part of the American artistic legacy.

Her success as a famous potter never changed her essence as a humble, generous woman, firmly rooted in the pueblo tradition of respect for Mother Earth. Her great- granddaughter, Kathy Wan Woe Povi Sanchez, states, “She nurtured us. She nurtured our relationship with clay. She taught us how to talk to the clay, how to hear the clay, and to understand that we live in relationship. When we die, we return to the earth, and in a sense, kneading clay is like kneading our own bodies.”1

1. Quoted in: “Art and Anonymity: Maria Martinez’s Open-Source Earthenware.” http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/48059.html

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY – MARIA POVEKA MARTINEZ

Books and Catalogs

Cohen, Lee. Art of Clay: Timeless Pottery of the Southwest. Santa Fe, NM: Clear Light Publishers, 1993.

Dillingham, Rick, and J. J. Brody. Fourteen Families in . Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1994.

Floyd, Peggy. Visits with a Friend: Recollections of Maria Martinez. S.I.: s.n., 1946- 1999.

Maria, the Beauty Makers. Tulsa, OK: Thomas Gilcrease Museum Association, 1981.

Maria Martinez and her Family. Scottsdale, AZ: Gallery 10, 1960-1980?

Marriott, Alice. Maria, the Potter of San Ildefonso. University of Oklahoma Press, 1948.

McGreevy, Susan Brown, Maria Montoya Martinez. Maria: The Legend, the Legacy. Santa Fe, NM: Sunstone Press, 1982.

Perdue, Theda. Sifters: Native American Women’s Lives. Oxford New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Peterson, Susan. The Living Tradition of Maria Martinez. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1977.

______. Maria Martinez: Five Generations of Potters. Washington DC: Renwick Gallery of the National Collection of Find Arts, Press, 1978.

______. Master Pueblo Potters: Maria Martinez, Santana and Adam Martinez…et al. New York: ACA Galleries, 1980.

Rogers, Tim, Marsha Bol, and Lucy R. Lippard. In Pursuit of Perfection: the Art of Agnes Martin, Maria Martinez, and Florence Pierce. Santa Fe, NM: Museum of Fine Arts, 2005.

Spivey, Richard L., Maria. Flagstaff, AZ: Northland Publishing, 1979.

Spivey, Richard L, Maria Montoya Martinez, and Herb Lotz. The Legacy of Maria Poveka Martinez. Santa Fe, NM: The Museum of New Mexico Press, 2003.

Periodicals

Berge, Carol. “Dark Radiance.” Art & Antiques (September 1988): 104-107+.

Bernstein, Bruce. “A Personal History of Santa Fe’s Indian Market.” Native Peoples 16 no. 6 (September/October 2003): 40-43.

Fauntleroy, Gussie. “Great Women Potters of the Past.” Native Peoples 14, no. 6 (September/October 2001): 26-27.

“Maria Martinez: Five Generations of Potters.” Ceramic Review no. 68 (March/April 1981): 7-9.

Nunley, John W., and Janet Catherine Berlo. “Native North American Art.” Saint Louis Art Museum Bulletin 20 (Summer 1991): 1-47.

Peterson, Susan. “The Legacy of Generations: Pottery by American Indian Women.” Ceramics Monthly 46 no. 6 (June/August 1998): 62-67.

______. “Maria Martinez, Pueblo Potter.” Craft Horizons 36 (February 1976): 44-47.

“Shaping a Revolution.” Southwest Art 33 no. 3 (August 2003): 182-185.

Spivey, Richard L. “The Legacy of Maria Poveka Martinez.” Ceramics Monthly 51, no. 9 (November 2003): 777-81.

Tisdale, Shelby J. “Maria Poveka Martinez.” American Indian Art Magazine 31, no. 1 (Winter 2005): 54-63.

Williams, Gerry. “Susan Peterson: The Craft and Art of Writing Books.” Ceramics (Sydney, Australia) no. 61 (2005): 100-105.

Videos and Other Media

Baggs, Arthur Eugene. “Maria and Julian’s Black Pottery.” University Park, PA: Audio Visual Services, Pennsylvania State University, 1977. VHS

“Craft in America DVD Complete Series.” PBS, 2007. DVD (1 Disc).

Fisher, Clyde, and Clark Wissler. “Indian Pottery Making in the Village of San Ildefonso, New Mexico.” New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1932.

“Maria, the Pottery of San Ildefonso.” Whittier, CA: Finley-Holiday Film Corp., 1980- 1989? VHS

“Maria of the Pueblos.” 1971. Film.

Martinez, Maria Montoya, and Popovi Da. “Potters Maria Martinez, Popovi Da.” Washington, DC: National Park Service, 1972. VHS

Martinez, Maria Montoya, Popovi Da, et al. “Indian Pottery of San Ildefonso.” Cortez, CO: Interpark, 1980-1989? VHS

Martinez, Maria Montoya, and Pablita Verlarde. “Native American Pottery Maker of San Ildefonso.” Interpark, 1980-1989? VHS

McIntyre, John Donald. The Hands of Maria." 1968. Film

Shangreaux, Lily, Elizabeth Wallace, et al. “The Courage to Create: Masters of Contemporary Indian Art.” Santa Fe, NM: Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, 1995. VHS

Treadwell, Walt, and Susan Peterson. “Maria, the Potter of San Ildefonso: Maria Martinez.” Logan, UT: Utah State University, 1999. Film

GALLERY REPRESENTATION – MARIA POVEKA MARTINEZ

Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, 7000 E. Tanque Verde, Ste. 16, Tucson, AZ 85715 Other location: Medicine Man Gallery Santa Fe, 602A Canyon Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501

Adobe Gallery, 221 Canyon Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501

WEB SITES – MARIA POVEKA MARTINEZ http://www.mariapottery.com Main site for Maria Martinez http://www.indianartsandculture.org/exhibits/maria “Touched by Fire” web site – the art, life and legacy of Maria Martinez http://www.denverpost.com/art/ci_5858616 MacMillan, Kyle. “DAM Honors a True Pottery Trailblazer.” The Denver Post, May 10, 2007. http://www.drloriv.com/lectures/martinez.asp Article plus link to video of program “Trash or Treasure? Discussing Native American work. http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/48059.html “Art and Anonymity: Maria Martinez’s Open-Source Earthenware.” Article from The San Fe New Mexican which appeared August 18 2006. http://www.answers.com/topic/maria-martinez Article plus brief biography http://www.adobegallery.com/artist.php?artist_id=109 Web site of Adobe gallery with examples of works and signatures. http://www.mariajulianpottery.com Martinez web site with biographies, photos and signatures http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3742516030920716322&hl=en Link to video documentary about Martinez http://kancrn.kckps.k12.ks.us/rosedale/EightArtists/Maria/Maria.html Links to video and other information http://holmes.anthropology.museum/southwestpottery/mariamartinez.html http://holmes.anthropology.museum/southwestpottery/mariajulian.html http://holmes.anthropology.museum/southwestpottery/mariasantana.html http://holmes.anthropology.museum/southwestpottery/mariapopovi.html

Holmes Museum of Anthropology site. Section lists all the artists with biographies and signatures.

September 2007

SANTANA ROYBAL MARTINEZ (1909 - 2002)

Santana Roybal was born at the San Ildefonso Pueblo to a family of potters. Her maternal grandmother, Dominguita Pino Martinez (1860-1948), was noted for black-on- red jars and her grandfather, Santiago Martinez (c.1858) worked with his wife, painting her pots. Her parents, Alfonsita Martinez Roybal (c.1881) and Juan Esteban Roybal also made polychrome pottery and her brother, Alfonso Roybal (Awa Tsireh) painted them. Her aunt, Tonita Roybal, was also a noted potter who was instrumental in teaching her niece the art of pottery making.

Santana married Adam Martinez (1903-2000), oldest son of Maria and Julian Martinez in 1926, and the couple lived with the elder Martinezs for eight years. Santana studied Maria’s method of pottery making and Julian’s painting style, and after Julian passed away in 1943, Santana took over painting Maria’s pots for the next 14 years. They primarily made the black-on-black pottery which was so popular during this time. In 1956 Maria began making pottery with her son Popovi Da and Santana returned to making her own pottery with her husband. She received a number of awards for her pottery in her own right and appeared in numerous shows. Santana died in 2002. The many descendents of the couple continue in the Martinez pottery tradition.

Brief References

Dillingham, Rick, and J. J. Brody. Fourteen Families in Pueblo Pottery. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1994.

“Four Women in Clay.” Ames, IA: Octagon Center for the Arts, 1984. VHS

Peterson, Susan. “The Legacy of Generations: Pottery by American Indian Women.” Ceramics Monthly 46 no. 6 (June/August 1998): 62-67.

Spivey, Richard L., Maria. Flagstaff, AZ: Northland Publishing, 1989. http://www.mariajulianpottery.com Martinez web site with biographies, signatures, photos

September 2007