Native American pottery ~ Isleta storyteller bear with three cubs in arms, by Stella Teller.

Stella Teller is a member of the Isleta Pueblo. She was born in 1926. Her daughters have accompanied her as pottery-makers during her long career.

Stella Teller is especially renowned for her figural pottery pieces, such as this one. She carefully cultivated a color palette featuring blue/greys and white that has developed with trademark qualities for her subjects. It is particularly fitting for the subject of this work - a mother bear singing stories to a trio of cubs. Typically, as with this treasure, Stella creates her singers with the serenity of closed eyes.

Stella’s work is sought out by collectors wherever indigenous art is admired and coveted.
4.5" tall, 3" deep. #P323

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For this storyteller, Janeth Fragua, a Native American from Jemez Pueblo. has created a koshare with three mini koshares, painted in black, rust and tan colors and holding corn husks.

Janeth was born in 1964, a daughter of Rose Fragua. She has been creating pottery since 1984. Janeth is very prolific at building, painting and firing storytellers, koshares and friendship bowls typically painted in black and rust colors.

Koshares are Pueblo clowns (sometimes called sacred clowns). They are jesters or tricksters in the Kachina religion (practiced by the Pueblo natives of the southwestern United States).

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Native American Jemez Pueblo storyteller with three children by Janeth Fragua in Pueblo clay -

Janeth Fragua has created a female singer with three children in her arms, as she sings the songs that tell of Jemez traditions. (Storytellers were originally called “mother singers”)

She is wrapped in a clay representation of a traditional Jemez shawl, and wears boots of clay that simulate those a Jemez maiden would wear.

Janeth Fragua was born to Rose Fragua of Jemez Pueblo in 1964. She began creating pottery figures in 1984. Janeth is very prolific at building, painting and firing storytellers, koshares and friendship bowls.
7" tall #P568

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Native American Jemez Pueblo pottery female storyteller with three children, Pueblo clay, by
Janeth Fragua.

Janeth Fragua was born to Rose Fragua of Jemez Pueblo in 1964. She began creating pottery figures in 1984. Janeth is very prolific at building, painting and firing storytellers, koshares and friendship bowls.

This pottery figure, made, painted and fired by hand, presents two children held in the arms of the singer, while one more listens intently from atop the singer’s head.

We call them storytellers now, but the originators of this idea referred to them as “mother singers”. By either name, they have always represented the timeless tradition of passing Pueblo heritage from one generation to the next with stories.
7"x 4" deep

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Native American pottery Cochiti Pueblo male storyteller with three children by Mary Quintana.

A particularly well-done storyteller figure in Cochiti pottery by Mary E. Quintana-Baca.

Mary was born into the Pueblo de Cochiti in 1946. Mary was inspired to continue the tradition of working with clay from her mother, who showed her how to work with clay. Mary has been a clay artist since her 30s.

Mary’s specialty is handmade storytellers, a field in which she has developed a distinctive style of form and coloration. Everything about Mary’s pieces is traditional except her painted details. She uses vibrant shades of acrylic paint to give the details of her work an attractive vitality.

Mary gathers her own clay from the hills that surround Cochiti Pueblo. She cleans, mixes, fines with volcanic sand, hand shapes, paints, and kiln-fires her pottery with a high degree of control, resulting in consistency of quality. Mary signs her art as: Mary E. Quintana, Cochiti, N.M.
4.5" x 2.5" deep #PB11

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Native American Jemez Pueblo pottery storyteller mama mouse with five micelets by Felicia Fragua in Pueblo clay.

This storyteller mouse mother singing to five mouse young’uns was created with care and respect for family teachings. Felicia Fragua, the artist, reveals her sense of humor, and understanding that oral traditions are not always so serious, especially when love is involved.

Who is Felicia Fragua? She is a very active and generous Jemez pottery maker, now known as Felicia Fragua Curley (Wallowing Bull). Felicia was born in the Eagle Clan in 1964 to Grace Fragua. Felicia began her involvement with pottery in the late 1970's.

Felicia was mentored by her mother, Grace Fragua, and two exceptional Jemez pottery artists. Bonnie Fragua and Rose Fragua. Felicia works with traditional clay, coiling it by hand, favoring mudheads, and animals as her subjects,

Storytellers, originally called “mother singers”, demonstrate the strong maternal influence of imparting knowledge to the children to the Pueblo.
7" tall #P568
5 3/4 inches tall #PE84

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Native American Jemez Pueblo pottery storyteller,
male elder with 2 babies & drum, by L. (Leonard) Tsosie. 6" high.

When pottery figures singing to children were first created, they were referred to as “mother singers”. Eventually, grandfathers were added to the category of Puebloans that played a role in educating pueblo children. After all, grandfathers are reservoirs of the oldest pueblo knowledge. This Tsosie male “storyteller” is a product of that enlightenment.

Leonard Tsosie (Corn Hill) was born in the late 1940s. Leonard started working with clay at the tender age of 11.

Leonard later in life noticed the dedication with which his wife, Emily, approached her making of pottery figures, including hand-coiling clay. By watching and working with Emily, he became very skilled at craft.

Leonard gathers his clay from the sacred grounds within Jemez Pueblo. He cleans and mixes the clay by hand, shapes his pottery manually, personally fires the clay, and sand dries each piece before painting, using all natural colors. Then, he fires it one final time.
6” tall #PF62S

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Native American Jemez pottery storyteller male with two children made from Pueblo clay by Mary & Simon Small and acquired personally from Mary Small in 2001.

Born in 1940, Mary Small is of the Jemez Pueblo Sun Clan. Her mother was Perfectita Toya, who encouraged her work with clay.

For many years, Mary Small worked with younger potters to encourage excellence and pride in their work.

Her work has earned award after award including in being named the Indian Arts and Crafts Association Artist of the Year twice. Once in 2002 and a second time in 2010.

Mary experimented with natural materials before establishing the blue/gray slip and burnt red/orange designs as her “trademark”.

Mary is one of the most cheerful and “sunny” personalities you will ever encounter. It is a quality that shows in her finished pieces, which she describes as being, "…blessed, they have power."
3" tall x 2” deep #PG26

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Native American Taos Pueblo pottery storyteller in micaceous Pueblo clay attributed to Margaret Mirabel.

This austere storyteller figure and three children is typical of the pottery from Taos Pueblo in Northern New Mexico. Taos Pueblo is one of, if not the oldest, continually occupied multi-residence structures in the United States. Archeologists estimate its origin to the 1300s. This ranks it with Acoma’s Sky City for continuous occupancy.

For most of its history, Taos Pueblo potters have created pots, bowls and figural pottery from clay speckled with bits of mica. This consistency results in bowls and pots that can be used with little or no tempering. It also results in art works that have a distinctive glitter when left unpainted, whether in Nativity characters or storytellers.

Because so much pottery in Taos Pueblo was made to be “used”, rather than collected, potters only began signing their products in recent decades. Each pottery maker had a recognizable style, so it was unnecessary for signatures to identify who made a piece of piece of Taos Pueblo. This storyteller, which we acquired at the Mirabel Shop on the Taos Pueblo in 2002, is in keeping with that tradition.
6 1/2" x 8" #Pi93

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Native American Choctaw Randall Chitto created this pottery black bear figure.

This bear poses with a drum, a leather pouch at the neck and drum beater in the left paw.

Bears are one of Randall Chitto’s favorite subjects. They are hand-coiled, burnished by hand and wet-sanded to create a sheen to the surface.

Historically, storytellers, which were pioneered by Helen Cordero of Cochiti Pueblo, were called “mother singers” and represented oral tradition of passing tribal traditions to younger generations.

In this instance, the bear is using a drum to add emphasis to the story she is telling. 8" tall

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Native American Acoma storyteller of a brother and sister created in Pueblo clay and signed by Aggie Henderson -

The sister is lying down. The baby brother is sitting on her back. Just the way I remember watching TV with my sister. Sure.

Aggie Henderson was born in 1973. Aggie was raised in the Acoma Pueblo, although she is half Apache and half Pima. Aggie began working in pottery at 15. Her mother-in-law, Marilyn Ray-Henderson, inspired her to continue and grow as an artist.

Marilyn Ray-Henderson taught Aggie all about pottery making, from where to dig up Acoma clay, how to clean, fine and shape it, how to paint and fire her pottery in the old ways. Aggie signs her pottery as Aggie, Acoma NM, followed by the year it was created.

1.38" x 2"

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Native American Acoma Storyteller, mini, ‘Me, my brother and my butterfly’.

In Acoma Pueblo clay by Aggie Henderson, who has signed the underside of the piece.

Aggie Henderson was born in 1973. Aggie was raised in the Acoma Pueblo, although she is half Apache and half Pima. Aggie began working in pottery at 15. Her mother-in-law, Marilyn Ray-Henderson, inspired her to continue and grow as an artist.

Marilyn Ray-Henderson taught Aggie all about pottery making, from where to dig up Acoma clay, how to clean, fine and shape it,, how to paint and fire her pottery in the old ways. Aggie signs her pottery as Aggie, Acoma NM, followed by the year it was created.
1 3/4" x 1 1/4" #PK04

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This is a traditional Santo Domingo Kewa storyteller by Ralph and Angel Bailon.

Angel was born in 1968 and started pottery art in the early 1980s. She does the shaping of the pieces that she and Ralph work on together. Ralph does the painting.

Kewa Pueblo, once known as Santo Domingo, has a culture that reflects the centuries since its founding in the 1400s. It is a culture that survived the rebuilding of the village following a flood in 1896.

It is also known for its careful preservation of traditional ways of life. Among these are pottery making, especially the creation figures such as this splendid storyteller and 10 children learning their heritage.

We found it in 2003. at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque. We instantly were drawn to it.
4.5” high #PK80

Native American Santa Clara Pueblo pottery figure of woman cradling a lamb in her lap, by Wayne Snowbird, in traditional Santa Clara black-on-black. We acquired it while visiting Wayne Snowbird at his Santa Clara studio. Admittedly, this is a bit of step beyond storytellers, but it has many similar cultural characteristics.

Here the woman is grooming a lamb, a source of sustenance and clothing for pueblo people for centuries. In its own way, it tells the same kind of story to its viewers that they would receive from being included in a more traditional pottery portrayal. And it is a striking work of pottery art by a superb artist.
6 1/2" tall, 3" deep/wide

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An impressive work of pottery art by Wayne Snowbird of Santa Clara Pueblo. Traditional Santa Clara black-on-black presentation of a grandfather figure holding a dreamcatcher net with a turquoise nugget centered in its web.

Admittedly, not a classical storyteller, but in its own way an extension of the same cultural tradition, since the grandfather is a recognized vehicle for wisdom and historical knowledge.

We first met Wayne Snowbird under the portal of the Governor’s House in Santa Fe, NM. His work immediately captured our attention. Thus, commenced a conversation that extended for years.

In 2004, we visited his Santa Clara Pueblo studio, when we acquired this piece and several others directly from Wayne. All of them characteristically present with featureless faces, a reflection of Wayne’s spiritual approach to making his pottery figures, which represent ideas larger than any individual. They all also share the subtle power of a master artist whose skill, sensitivity, adherence to tradition and creativity are instantly recognizable.
10” tall #PL65

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Native American Jemez Pueblo pottery Koshare figure, with drum and a bowl of watermelon slices

Each year we have watched Kathleen Wall’s work sell-out before noon at the Santa Fe Indian market. This Koshare was created in collaboration with her brother, Marcus Wall, and is signed accordingly. Kathleen confirmed to us on the phone that it was the work of both of them. It was made to sit on the edge of a shelf or any horizontal surface, with legs extending beyond and below the flat surface.

Kathleen Wall is a phenomenon. She is the only artist to receive the designation Native Treasures Living Treasure in two successive years. (To be candid, it was because her 2020 award event was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic and re-staged the succeeding year, 2021. Nevertheless, it’s in the record books.) She also received a New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2021.

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On a personal note, we owned a figure done by Kathleen that had some provenance questions. When we contacted her to clarify, she immediately remembered the piece. It was one of her first figures. We were happy to return it for her personal collection for what we had paid for it. She was thrilled.
11 1/2" x 6" x 7"

Native American Jemez Pueblo pottery storyteller, female with 3 children by Mary Small

The forerunners of storyteller pottery figures were called “mother singers”, featuring females singing pueblo heritage to the children. Therefore, while we call this a “storyteller”, it may be more appropriate to call it a “mother singer” It is a maiden wearing a turquoise necklace. She holds babes in her arms while another looks on from behind over shoulder. She is wearing a skirt simulated in pottery. Simulated brown legging boots extend in front of her.

Mary Small came into the Sun Clan at Jemez Pueblo in July, 1940. Her mother, Perfectita Toya, introduced her to the traditional way of making pueblo pottery when Mary was about 8 years old.

Surrounded by Jemez pottery that had fallen on days of inferior quality, Mary worked with younger Jemez potters to encourage standards of excellence and pottery of which Jemez could be proud.

Mary and her husband also experimented with natural slips and colors that could give Mary’s pottery an unmistakable signature. A blue/gray slip and a burnt red/orange palette emerged. This combination and Mary’s exceptional talent at form and design, became the stuff of which led to repeated awards and two designations as Indian Arts and Crafts Association Artist of the Year in 2002 and 2010.
4"H, 2 1/4" x 3 1/4" #PM34

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Native American Jemez Pueblo Chrislyn Fragua pottery storyteller/mothersinger, holding a simulated pot while 3 children listen wide-eyed to the story being sung.

Jemez Pottery maker Chrislyn Fragua was born in 1973. Her mother was Linda Lucero Fragua, who fortuitously introduced her to Jemez pottery figurals. In the 1980s when Chrislyn was about 12 years old she learned to collect Jemez clay from the nearby hills and how to refine it and make works of Jemez pottery art from it.

This particular mother singing storyteller displays Fragua’s gift for telling stories within her storytellers. This mother is holding a pot while she sings, possibly about the spirit of the pot, for three Jemez children.

Mom wears a traditional Jemez manta simulated in clay and displays the cheeks with sun bursts that are often painted on Jemez figural’s cheeks.

Chrislyn says she uses hand-coiling to start her pieces with an idea of what it will become, but she also says she responds to what the clay asks of her.
7" tall, x 5" deep

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Native American Jemez Pueblo pottery
Storyteller Santa Claus of Pueblo clay by D. (Deborah) Loretto.

As you think about acquiring this last Santa in our inventory, you may ask how a European religious symbol finds its way into Native American culture.

Our theory is that art finds its own medium and, for the talented pottery artists of the Pueblos, a jolly symbol like Santa Claus is a natural outlet for their creative urges…and their need for income.

This jolly Santa Claus pottery storyteller Deborah Loretto, fills the expectation with charm and sense of well-being as a swarm of Santa’s fans listen to his tales of toys and joys.

Deborah Loretto was born in 1956. She is a traditional Jemez Pueblo pottery artist who uses both the coil and pinch methods to create her pottery. She likes to apply her style to Santa Claus storyteller figures.
3" tall x 2.25" x 2" #PM84

Native American Jemez Pueblo clay pottery storyteller with two children and a lamb by Chrislyn Fragua.

Do you suppose there is a Jemez version of Mary’s little lamb with its message for the young? Is that what has these potential shepherds so rapt as the mother singer sits with her circle skirt spread out? So many questions. From mother’s braided hair to her protective attitude, this Chrislyn Fragua work of pottery art certainly is a conversation starter.

The tradition of pottery storytellers is well-established in the Jemez Pueblo. Many Fragua’s are specialists in the art of Jemez pottery, all of which is hand-built and traditionally fired before being painted with slips from clay gathered in the hills near Jemez Pueblo.
5.5"x 4.5" x 5" #PN20

Visit Additional Info for a 360-degree view of this storyteller.

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Native American Navajo Cheyenne Jim pottery storyteller with 2 children. Micaceous clay. Single feather headdress. De-accessioned by the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center Museum, Albuquerque, NM
7" high x 4" wide - 3.5" deep

Native American Dena Suina Cochiti Pueblo pottery storyteller horse with 8 children.

Dena Suina, who was not born into Cochiti Pueblo, has become one of Cochiti's most respected artists. After marrying into Cochiti as a young woman, her mother-in-law, Louise Suina, taught her to hand coil clay and apply her imaginative mind to making figures using traditional methods to craft finely detailed storytellers. In this piece, she has chosen a horse as the "vehicle".

Dena was born into San Felipe Pueblo in 1961 and spent most of her youth without working with clay. Since 1991, Dena has developed a style with storytellers that is distinct, with tiny children, exquisitely formed and painted. She makes her storytellers with great creativity and intricate details.
3" x 4.5" x 2" #PM69

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Native American pottery Cochiti Pueblo horse storyteller by Dena Suina.

This storyteller on horseback makes a nice companion to PM69 on this Native-Potterylink.com website. Dena Suina is a highly respected pottery artist at Cochiti Pueblo. She has established an enviable reputation as Cochiti pottery artist, although she was born into San Felipe Pueblo, not Cochiti.

During her childhood and teenage, she didn’t work with clay, only after she married into Cochiti Pueblo, did she learn the skills from her mother-in-law that have served her so well on the path of pottery making.

In the years since, Dena has developed a distinct personal style fueled by her creativity and her knack for precise shaping and intricate painting.
2.75" x 4.75" x 2" #PM70

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Native American pottery Cochiti Vangie Suina Storyteller in Pueblo clay.

Vangie Suina has mastered a pottery technique that belongs exclusively to her. The result is a degree of finish and finesse that is unmistakable, and highly valued by collectors. While many call these storyteller figures, the originator of the idea called the female figures, ‘Singing Mothers’.

In this piece, Vangie Suina has presented a female singer who is holding a bowl containing ears of corn. On each arm, there are children who are the targets of the message. The entire presentation is within a symbolic opened corn shuck.

Mary Evangeline “Vangie” Suina was born in the 1960s into the Cochiti Pueblo. She was taught by her mother, Louise Suina, how to work with clay, from mixing it, fining it and forming the figures by hand, to firing each piece outdoors, just as her ancestors did.

Vangie uses traditional hand coiling, a technique that has been passed down through generations of Cochiti Indians. Vangie has been working with clay since she was a young woman of 22 years. She adds to the extended legacy of her beloved Cochiti artistry.
5"H x 4"W #PN50

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