Artworks of San Ildefonso Pueblo
August 12, 2019 until October 12, 2019
Po-Woh-Geh-Owingeh is the Tewa name for San Ildefonso Pueblo. It means Where the Water Cuts Through in the Tewa language. Beginning around the 1200s, residents of Mesa Verde began migrating south in search of better water sources. By the 1300s, people living in the Tsankawi area of what is now Bandelier National Monument began moving closer to the Rio Grande for more consistent supplies of water and settled where San Ildefonso is today. The pueblo is located twenty-two miles northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
San Ildefonso is one of the best known of all New Mexico pueblo villages because of the highly skilled painters—both of pottery and easel art—and the beautiful blackware pottery, which has been produced since the early 1900s. The Pueblo is the home of the potter Maria Martinez, whose elegantly polished Black-on-black pottery is valued by collectors worldwide. It is generally accepted that the first pueblo painters emerged from San Ildefonso in the year 1900. San Ildefonso's historic pottery, which was made long before either of the aforementioned movements began, is exceptional as well.
San Ildefonso Pueblo is responsible for an incredible amount of artistic innovation. With this exhibit, we wish to group and display together the wide variety of San Ildefonso styles.