Angie Yazzie, Taos Pueblo Pottery

"Angie Yazzie, a member of Taos Pueblo, was born in Taos in 1965 and has lived at the pueblo all her life.  She was exposed to pottery making at an early age by her grandmother, Isabel Archuleta, and her mother, Mary Archuleta.  Her maternal grandparents, who owned a curio shop at Taos Pueblo and made everything they sold, were very influential in shaping her interest in art.  As a little girl she watched her grandmother make pottery and was encouraged to experiment on her own.  In elementary school, Yazzie’s classmates teased her about sitting with her grandmother and making pots.  This experience caused her to give up potting when she was in high school, but she renewed her interest after graduation.

Yazzie’s first pots were rough and heavy. She strove to make thin-walled pieces, which were considered superior, and became so adept that today she has to concentrate on making thicker walls.  “People don’t buy large thine-walled vessels,” she commented.  “They are afraid they will break, although they are actually very strong.”  Yazzie fires the way her grandmother taught her, using cedar fuel in a pit.  She sometimes fires as many as fifteen pieces at a time—as many as the pit will hold.  Some of the other potters were amazed by this information. Christine McHorse, for example, fires one piece at a time.

Yazzie’s work has been exhibited at the Wheelwright Museum, the Millicent Rogers Museum, The Cincinnati Art Museum, and the Smithsonian Institution.  Yazzie is a regular participant in the Taos Invites Toas art show where she won Best of Pottery in 1996.  She has also won second- and third-place awards at the Santa Fe Indian Market."  [All That Glitters, pp 94-95]

Reference and Recommended Reading::  ALL THAT GLITTERS The Emergence of Native American Micaceous Art Pottery in Northern New Mexico by Duan Anderson. 1999. Pages 94-95.  School of American Research Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico