Adobe Gallery Blog
Nine-Piece Pottery Polychrome Nacimiento by Dorothy Loretto Trujillo - C3848
Dorothy Loretto Trujillo, who passed away in 1999, was an outstanding potter. She was originally from Jemez Pueblo, but moved to Cochiti following her marriage to Onofre Trujillo, and obtained permission to make pottery using Cochiti clay. After moving to Cochiti Pueblo, Dorothy started making pottery in the Cochiti style, abandoning her Jemez style.
Dorothy was one of the early potters to make storytellers. She was from a family of outstanding potters. Her sisters, Mary E. Toya, Marie Edna Coriz, Alma Concha Loretto, Fannie Wall Loretto, and Lenora Lupe Lucero, are famous potters as well. Interestingly, her sisters also married out of their native pueblo and moved to the pueblo of their spouses. Dorothy began making Storytellers before 1970. Two years later, she began making Nativities (Nacimientos). Dorothy shared her pottery-making knowledge with others. She had taught at least three people, including two of her own daughters. Her Storytellers may have only one or over 40 babies. One of her Storytellers is on exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution, Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C.