SEFERINA ORTIZ Pottery Female Storyteller with 8 Children [SOLD]

This pottery storyteller figurine by Cochiti Pueblo artist Seferina Ortiz is wearing a beautifully painted dress with a floral pattern.  It’s still fresh and pressed even with eight children all over her.  And, she has a warm and happy smile on her perfect face.  She looks like a happy grandmother. The children are wonderful, too.  They appear to be attentive and not distracted with toys.  The two boys on her lies appear to be the oldest of the group, based on their sizes.  They may be playing hide-and-seek.

Seferina (1931-2007) is considered one of the matriarchs of the potter population of Cochiti Pueblo.  Not only did she leave a legacy of her pottery, she left a legacy in her children—Joyce, Janice, Inez, Virgil, Leon and Angie, some of whom are considered top potters today.

In the first decade following the creation of the storyteller figurine by Helen Cordero, only about eight potters at Cochiti Pueblo were producing such figurines. It was these eight potters that we featured in our first Storyteller Exhibit in the early 1980s. Among them was Seferina Ortiz. She is one of the earliest potters to make storyteller figurines.  

Condition: original condition

Provenance: this SEFERINA ORTIZ Pottery Female Storyteller with 8 Children is from the collection of a gentleman from Albuquerque

Recommended Reading: Clay Mirror—From Monos to Storytellers: Reflections from Cochiti Pueblo.  The Tom & Charlotte Mittler Collection