Acoma Pueblo Female Storyteller Figurine with 5 Children by Marilyn Henderson Ray [SOLD]

This cheerful storyteller figurine by Acoma artist Marilyn Henderson Ray is filled with action.  There are five children pursuing various activities, two birds, two painted lizards and an Acoma seed jar, all clamoring over the adult.  The storyteller is dressed in traditional pueblo clothing—manta, blouse, and white moccasins with leg wraps.  She has her mouth open and head tilted back as if in song.

One boy, with a bird on his shoulder, is reaching for lizards on the adult’s leg, a little girl is reaching for the bird on his shoulder, a girl is hanging on the seed jar, and a boy opposite her appears to be reaching for her.  One boy is hanging on to the back of the storyteller.  The pigments used by the potter are all pastel colors in a matte finish.

This figurine was purchased by us from the potter in July 1988, at which time it was newly completed.  We sold it to a client from whom we now have it back.  It is in original condition.

Marilyn Henderson Ray (b.1954) is the most lively and bubbly person I have ever met.  When she would come to the gallery in Albuquerque with pottery to sell, the whole gallery staff gathered around because she was so pleasant to be around.  I have not seen Marilyn in the twenty years we have been in Santa Fe, but I bet she hasn’t changed a bit.

Marilyn comes from a family of successful potters.  She learned from her grandmother, Dolores S. Sanchez, beginning at the age of eight.  Her grandmother gave her a special polishing stone.  She and her grandmother gathered natural clay together. (Schaaf, 2002)

Reference: Southern Pueblo Pottery 2,000 Artist Biographies by Gregory Schaaf

Relative Links: Acoma Pueblo, Carolyn Concho, Rebecca Lucario, Judy Lewis, Diane Lewis, Pottery Storyteller figurines, Marilyn Henderson Ray