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A century of San Ildefonso blackware pottery. Check out our video on the historic creations by Maria & Julian Martinez in 1919-1920. This dynamic shift in style still reverberates today among Pueblo artists. Take a moment to learn more about this unique event nearly 100 years ago.
Footage of renowned American Indian potter Maria Martinez creating blackware Pueblo pottery with her husband Julian Martinez. To license footage from this film for commercial use visit: www.travelfilmarchive.com.
"Footage of renowned Native American potter Maria Martinez creating blackware Pueblo pottery with
her husband Julian Martinez.
06:00:00:00
San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico
VS Caucasian woman & man (tourists) exiting Native American store.
Sign for “San Ildefonso Native American Pueblo.”
06:01:00:02
San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico
VS Native American middle-aged couple (Maria and Julian Martinez)
seated outside making pottery.
CU Native American woman shaping & molding clay flat.
HA CU pressing clay into bowl mold.
VS Native American woman shaping & molding clay into long piece
& pressing around rim of bowl.
Headshot Native American woman smiling as she works.
CU hands smoothing out clay along rim of bowl.
CU smoothing out inside of bowl.
CU traditional Native American necklaces worn around woman’s neck.
(pottery making, ceramics, handicrafts)
06:03:41:20
San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico
VS Native American middle-aged couple (Maria and Julian Martinez)
seated outside making pottery.
CU hands scraping side of clay pot to make it smooth.
VS Native American man painting designs on vase.
Headshot Native American man concentrating on his work.
Native American couple displaying pieces to each other.
(pottery making, ceramics, handicrafts)
06:05:23:02
San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico
VS Native American middle-aged couple (Maria and Julian Martinez)
removing finished pottery from kiln buried in ground & wiping dirt off.
VS finished blackware pottery on ground.
Native American man wiping off pottery & handing to woman, who arranges on ground.
Native American couple holding up finished pottery pieces & smiling.
(pottery making, ceramics, handicrafts)
06:07:41:00
Guy Berger, Owner of Palms Trading Co. in Albuquerque, NM; gives us some insight on how to determine the date of pottery by the Famous Maria Martinez of San Ildefonso Pueblo based on the signature of the piece. For more info checkout www.palmstrading.com
San Ildefonso potters Maria and Julian Martinez helped to establish Indian pottery as an art form outside of the Pueblo world.
“She always made it a point to tell me almost every day, ‘Don’t forget what you see, don’t forget what you hear, remember. One of these days what I did, what you are doing, what we are doing, will be important.’”
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– Worldwide fame and appreciation accompanied the life of potter Maria Martinez of San Ildefonso Pueblo. Through her hard work and generous sharing of her pottery techniques, Martinez reintroduced the art of pottery making to her people, providing them with a means of artistic expression and for retaining traditional aspects of the pueblo way of life.
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Maria Montoya Martinez and her son, Popovi Da demonstrate how Pueblo Indian Pottery is made using traditional methods. Filmed in San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico.
"Maria Martinez, noted indian pottery maker demonstrates the traditional indian ways, beginning with the spreading of sacred corn before clay is gathered. Also shown are the mixing of clay, construction of pottery, hand decorating, and building of the firing mound."
*I do not claim ownership of this material. Intended for educational purposes.*
A first-hand record of Maria Martinez and her family making traditional pottery of the San Ildefonso Pueblo (New Mexico). Pots are built up from the raw clay, all the way though polishing ('burnishing'), decorating, and firing. Produced at the Idyllwild School of Music and The Arts, in collaboration with Susan Peterson.
Film by Stuart Roe, made in late 1970s. (Maria died in 1980).
Maria Martinez pottery comes in a variety of styles not just black. Learn from Maria Martinez expert Dr. Mark Sublette about the numerous kinds of pots she made. Examples of Red, Sienna and Polychrome are shown and values of each different type.
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Maria Martinez pottery types of coloration and rarity, not all Maria pottery is black
Maria pottery is generally thought of as being black on black pottery, and for most part that is true, but there are exceptions to the rule. In fact, these exceptions are very valuable, so you have to know what to look for, and you have to realize that they were done at certain time frames. So, the time frames need to fit, as well as what you're actually looking at. The first thing we will talk about is Maria polychrome. Polychrome simply means 2 or more than 2. So, it's a multicolored image, and Maria’s pottery from the time frame of when she first started making pottery with her husband Julian was always polychrome. These pots are very rarely signed; there's probably less than 20% of them that are signed. They could be signed Maria or they could actually be signed Maria and Julian. So, she made these early on and they're very, very collectible. A great Maria-Julian signed piece that's polychrome, could be worth upwards to $150 to 200,000, depending on the quality of the piece, and we know they've sold for this amount. Again, it has to do with quality, size, rarity, and how its painted. Also, (Maria) when she made polychromes, they were her early work with Julian. Well, starting about 1960 Maria and her son Popovi also started making polychromes, and this was something that Po wanted to do. He wanted to (I think it was almost an homage to his father, who had started making the polychromes early on) so, Po wanted to be the first one, and he was to start making these types of pots so somewhere in about 1960. (He) started making polychromes, and again, these are rare and highly collectible because he didn't do a lot of them. So, you have two time frames for the polychromes. You have the early ones that would be anywhere from 1910 to 1930, and then you have the very later ones that Po did (and) that was started about 1960. The next kind of pot that is not your typical black on black would be red. Red pots were done both by Maria and Julian and also by her daughter-in-law Santana and her son Popovi. So, they were done anywhere from the beginning 1920s all the way until she quit making pottery. (There are) very few of these were made compared to the black pieces – probably less than 1%. So, they are highly collectible. The only difference between a black pot and a red pot has to do with the firing. So, if it's an oxygenated fire with lots of flow of oxygen in the fire of the kiln, then they'll be red. If it's covered with manure and smothered, then they'll be black. And most people wanted the black, and she really didn't want to do the red work, but when you do see them they're valuable. Now, there's an interesting twist on the red work called Sienna. Sienna is what it is – the color sienna, and these pots were started about 1961 by Po. And the original one was really an accident. He probably over fired the pot, in which he was trying to get a red and he got this sienna color. He realized it was a very interesting color and originally he called it caramel but he realized that probably wasn't the right word and over time (in the next year or so) he came up with the word sienna, and he started using that as the term to describe these kinds of tannish pots. They're very beautiful, and they're actually even more valuable than the red, where Poe also did occasionally things like inlaid turquoise or sometimes he would do black and sienna. these again will be very valuable and highly
collectible so when you think of Maria, think of not only her black ware, but you have red, sienna, polychrome, and then occasionally pieces that use both the sienna and the black and inlaid turquoise. Po is the first person to put inlaid turquoise into the pottery and these are again highly collectible. Those are Maria's – look for them.
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Today I wanted to highlight a few pieces of San Ilfedonso Pueblo pottery from the likes Maria Martinez, Popovi Da, and Tony Da available in our upcoming auction. Live bidding for our Spring auction will begin on May 15th, 2022 at 9:00 AM (Pacific) on LiveAuctioneers.com. Register today for a chance to bid on these amazing pieces.
A previously released educational video on the life and artwork of Tony Da follows today's video.
Music: Better Days by Benjamin Tissot
