Cochiti Pueblo 8 Piece Pottery Nacimiento [SOLD]

Snowflake Flower was named Estephanita after her grandmother, Estephanita Herrera, but she is known as Stephanie or Snowflake Flower.  She is a sister to Ada Suina.  She attended the University of New Mexico and received her BS in Education in 1985.  She started making pottery figurines around 1979 and has specialized in storytellers, nacimientos, owls and other figurines.

Snowflake Flower is an exceptional potter and award winner and she is featured in The Pueblo Storyteller book by Barbara Babcock.  She makes storyteller figurines and nacimientos that exude an air of nobility, yet feature a feeling of pueblo life as well.

She places prayer feathers on her figurines, something she started doing in 1983 when her daughter went in to a coma.  She continued to put feathers on the figures as a prayer for her recovery and that her prayer would be spread through more and more people as they purchased her pottery.  Finally, 16 years later, her daughter awoke from the coma.

This nacimiento includes Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, an angel, a seated drummer, a praying cow, a donkey and a sheep.  In this nacimiento, the animation of the figures makes them appear almost life-like. The angel has her hand pointing as if making a statement or singing and Joseph is doing the same. Mary has her hands clasped as if in prayer, as does the cow that is lying down with its front feet held together.

Condition: original condition

Provenance:  from the collection of a family from Illinois who purchased it many years ago.

Recommended Reading: Nacimientos: Nativity Scenes by Southwest Indian Artisans by Guy and Doris Monthan