Short Biography: Maria Martinez

Life/Tribute Maria Montoya Martinez was from San Ildefonso Pueblo. Born on an unrecorded date between 1881 and 1887 Maria was the oldest of five sisters. She started learning pottery skills from her aunt, at first just by watching her. At this time, traditional pottery techniques were being lost, but Maria and her family were trying to preserve the culture of art. By the age of seven or eight Martínez was making crude bowls and plates of her own. She received a well rounded education by first attending a government grammar and rudimentary school. Maria and her sister were selected to spend 2 of their formative years at St. Catherine’s Indian School. When Martinez returned home, she quickly achieved economic independence by mastering the craft of pueblo pottery. In 1904 she married Julian Martinez and they worked closely together. She created the pots and her husband painted them. After an archeologist had discovered ancient pottery, Maria and her husband were asked to reconstruct the pottery. After much trial and error, Maria successfully produced a black ware pot. She began developing new designs, shapes, and techniques for black pottery. She won many awards and presented her pottery at many world fairs and received the initial grant for the National Endowment for the Arts to fund a Martinez pottery workshop in 1973. Maria and her husband eventually settled in San Ildefonso, where they raised four sons and one daughter.

About her style After discovering black ware pottery, Her skill advanced with each pot, and her art began to cause quite a stir among collectors and developed into a business for the black ware pottery. In addition, Martinez began experimenting with various techniques to produce other shapes and colorful forms of pottery. Maria signed her creations in different ways throughout her lifetime. The signatures found on the bottom of the pottery help date the pieces of art.

My critique I think that Maria’s