Female Storyteller with Two Children [SOLD]

Special Offer: The consignor of this storyteller figurine has authorized us to reduce the asking price by 20% from the original price of $750 to a new price of $600.

When we organized our first Storyteller exhibit at Adobe Gallery in Albuquerque in 1979, we identified only five potters making these figurines-Helen Cordero, Dorothy Trujillo, Frances Herrera, Seferina Ortiz, and Rita Lewis. We were not aware that a potter named Frances Herrera was making them too. When Barbara Babcock wrote the book The Pueblo Storyteller that was published in 1986, she also did not acknowledge such a storyteller maker by that name.

In consultation with Bob Kapoun of The Rainbow Man I found out that Mary Herrera was the same person as Frances Herrera.  I was very well acquainted with Frances Herrera as I purchased miniature pottery figurines from her in the 1980s, but I was not aware that she made full-scale storytellers before then.

There is a paper note attached to the base of this storyteller that states that it was made in 1976.  That coincides well with a period when she was working in full-scale figurines and before I was purchasing miniatures from her in the 1980s.

We are fortunate to have one of her early storyteller figurines at this time. It is long overdue. It is a female figurine, featuring the seated adult wearing a traditional pueblo dress and wearing a flowered cape draped over her back. Her hair is tied up in a chonga in the back and she is wearing traditional pueblo moccasins.

Seated on her legs are two children-both dressed as boys-one of whom is holding a ball and the other is hanging on to the mother's arm. The figurine is signed in pencil and reinforced with the name and date on a paper label.

Condition: The storyteller figurine is in original excellent condition.