Project Description
As a teenager, Maria Montoya Martínez learned how to make pottery from artists in her San Ildefonso Pueblo community in present-day New Mexico, the birthplace of black-on-blackware pottery. Today, she is celebrated for her “rediscovery” of this historic style of ceramics, which had declined in use amongst Pueblo potters beginning in the early 1800s. Martínez passed her knowledge onto her children and this dish bears the signatures of both her and her daughter-in-law, a beautiful example of multi-generational artistic collaboration and the continuation of cultural heritage.
The unique appearance of black-on-blackware is achieved by applying a slip with high iron content to a drying pot and burnishing it with a stone. The matte design is then painted over the shiny base. During firing, fresh fuel is added to the kiln at its highest heat to produce a dark smoke that turns the pottery black.
– Dante Stewart, Class of 2023