FELIPA TRUJILLO Small Seated Pot Carrier [SOLD]

This small male figurine is seated and holding a pottery jar, somewhat in the Tesuque Rain God style.  He is dressed in a cowboy-style vest over a shirt.  Cochiti Pueblo artist Felipa Trujillo’s treatment of his eyes is intriguing, with vertical lines running up and down from the slip in the clay.  The two lines on the cheeks are something one would expect to see on a Plains warrior.  Only Felipa knows her intent.

Felipa Trujillo (1908-1986) grew up helping her mother, Estefanita Herrera, make pottery.  They made bowls and jars with lizard spouts.  After her mother passed away around 1960, Felipa began signing her own pottery. She then expanded into making figurines.  At an exhibit of Cochiti Storytellers sponsored by the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe in 1973, Felipa Trujillo was one of the seven artists chosen and her entry was a male storyteller who had similar markings on his cheeks.  Felipita’s husband, Paul Trujillo, helped Felipa by gathering clay and doing the sanding until he died in 1983.  Presumably, Feliipa discontinued potting during those last three years of her life, without his assistance.

Adobe Gallery purchased this figurine from a resident of Cochiti Lake in 1988 when she was moving to Wyoming.  We then sold it to the client from whom we now have it back.

Relative Links: Helen Cordero, figurines, Cochiti Pueblo, The Pueblo Storyteller by Barbara Babcock, Josie Hand, Felipa Trujillo, Cochiti Pueblo Potter