Virginia Naranjo, Cochiti Pueblo Potter

Cochiti Pueblo artist Virginia Naranjo was known for polychrome jars, bowls, Storytellers, Nativities, wall plaques and animal figurines.

Virginia is the granddaughter of Juanita Romero; daughter of Salvador and Evaline Arquero; Niece of Juanita Arquero; daughter-in-law of Frances Naranjo Suina; wife of Louis Naranjo; mother of Mary Edna Trujillo and Pauline Naranjo. After Virginia suffered a stroke, she started collaborating with her husband Louis until his death in 1997.

Louis and Virginia Naranjo were standard bearers for the proud figurative pottery tradition of Cochiti Pueblo. They crafted their figurines at their kitchen table in their comfortable adobe home at the pueblo. They worked almost every day crafting their art with great care, joking and exchanging the gossip of the day as they went along, accompanied by television, children and grandchildren. Their art provided a good life for them and it provided a legacy that will be with us for another century or more.

Virginia Naranjo (1932-2014) had a wonderful sense of humor. They fashioned figurines in clay of bikini clad men and women with cameras dangling from their necks, mermaids, men with baseball caps, Santa Claus, and many other characters. Also, they crafted Angels, Storytellers, Padres, and Pueblo Dancers.

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

TAGS: Cochiti Pueblo, figurines, Juanita Arquero, Louis Naranjo, Pauline Naranjo, Louis and Virginia Naranjo