Louis and Virginia Naranjo, Cochiti Pueblo Potters

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.

Louis Naranjo (1932-1997) and Virginia Naranjo (b.1932) 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, nacimientos and pueblo dancers.

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

Recommended Reading: There is an excellent article on Louis and Virginia Naranjo in Indians of New Mexico, edited by Richard C. Sandoval and Ree Sheck. Published by New Mexico Magazine, Santa Fe, 1990. ISBN 0-937206-16-4. It may be available from the publisher.

Relative Links: Louis Naranjo, Contemporary Pottery, Virginia Naranjo, Cochiti Pueblo 

** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at Marketing@adobegallery.com.