Maria Martinez

A ceramics artist who inspires me is Maria Martinez. Having died in 1980, she was one of the last remaining Pueblo Indians of the Black Mesa region of New Mexico. She gives a rare glimpse into the ancient Native American methods of pottery making. From a long line of tradition, she has a fine-tuned perception of how to mix, form, and fire clay. She uses blue sand and red clay, both from the desert environment (making sure to thank the Great Spirit for its use).  She knows just how much water to add and how to knead the clay to that it is neither too crumbly nor too sloppy.  She forms her pottery in the pinch-pot style, turning it on a broken dish called a pokey.  Then, an intricately stoked fire surrounded by metal sheets and doused with dried cow manure bakes the clay at a very hot temperature without the use of an inclosed kiln and gives it a shining black finish.  She is my favorite ceramics artist because she carries on an rich Native American pottery tradition that has been partially lost by time, and her pottery is so beautiful that it is widely renowned in modern times.