María Montoya Martínez

Kat Furnari

How to make a coiled pinch pot

Maria Martinez is one of the most famous Indian potters in history.

Martínez spent all of her 99 years in the place where she was born: San Ildefonso Pueblo in northern New Mexico

Maria spent her whole life in the place where she was born:

San Ildefonso Pueblo In New Mexico

This is Maria’s husband

Tony. He is gathering clay for Maria to Make her pots.

These are Maria’s tools.

She used dried gourds to

smooth her pots.

Here Maria is using the gourds to smooth the sides of the bowl.

Maria uses a soft stone to polish the bowl.

This is Maria removing pieces from the firing pit

Here Maria is loading the firing pit.

This is one of the pieces Maria removed

after it had cooled.

Maria learned to make pots when she was only 9 years old. Her great aunt showed her how to make coiled pinch pots.

In this picture Maria is 19 years old.

How do you make a coiled pinch pot?

First, the clay is prepared. The Pueblo Indians go out into the desert and dig up the clay they need. Then

they mix sand with it. They allow the clay to

rest for several months.

Then the bottom is created by pressing clay in the poky, a shallow bowl made of plaster. This gets the bottom of the pot

started on a curve coming up the sides instead of it being just flat.

Next, coils are created. They usually don't roll them on the table top but instead

just use their hands.

The coils are thick and the pinch method

is used to thin the coils after they are attached to

create smooth walls.

After the pot is finished, engobe (a kind of paint

made out of clay and water) is put on and then the pot is

rubbed with a stone to polish it. This is what makes the pots

so shinny. The design is then painted on with lots of detail. The design is not polished .

How did Maria’s pots become black when the clay is red?

The pots become black when they are fired.

After the pots have been decorated they are carefully stacked on an iron grill. Wood and dried cow manure are then piled around

the grill and lit on fire. When the fire burns hot enough and longenough fresh manure is thrown over it to stop the fire. The

smoke can not get out and fills the air around the pots.

This is how Maria turned her pots black.

Here are a few of Maria’s pieces …..

www.indiantraders.comwww.claygirl.comwww.art.uiuc.edu

www.csuchico.eduwww.pueblodirect.comwww.kivatrading.comwww.goffpottery.comwww.waltonfeed.comwww.nativecalling.org

www.anglefire.comwww.megaessay.com

www.mariapottery.commcclungmuseum.utk.edu/specex/singclay/singclay.htm

www.pueblopottery.nettoh-atin.com