Santa Clara
and San Ildefonso Pueblos are famous for their distinctive, jewel-like
black and redware pottery. Their pots are highly polished, then either
slip decorated, carved or scratched with traditional designs. A unique reduction-firing technique used for hundreds of years creates the final black color. The potter must carefully arrange the bark and juniper wood for fueling the fire. They will watch the color within the fire carefully, as the pots bake. At a point chosen through experience, they will smother the entire fire with dried sheep manure, or another reduction agent. This immediately reduces the temperature of the fire and drives carbon, from the manure and smoke, into the clay. The same pots, fired normally are a beautiful deep red brown. A skillful potter with luck will acheive a beautiful, deep black coloring. Depending on the perfection of the polished surface finish, the color may range between "gunmetal" grey through jet black. Flame jets or clouds caused by inoportune drafts can introduce color changes, banding or other irregularities, so the firing must be carefully controlled at all times.
As in all traditional Pueblo pottery making, there is always the chance of loss during a firing. Air pockets, drafts, flame jets or irregular wall thickness can cause a pot to explode, or crack. This fact makes the pots which survive a firing very special, and the ones lost may be ground up to be added back into the next batch of clay for temper. One potter we have known for some time calls the lost pots her "lost children", who get a second chance when they are added to a new batch of clay.
San Ildefonso Pueblo, near Santa Fe, New Mexico was the home of Maria and Julian Martinez, arguably, the most famous Pueblo potters of the 20th Century. They pioneered both the black on black decoration style which has become so popular, but were also important in spreading interest in pottery making among young people of their Pueblo, and other Pueblos. Julian was a master draftsman and painter, creating decoration styles which are now considered "traditional". Maria was not only an accomplished potter, but also involved actively in marketing her work, reestablishing the concept of crafts work as an income for traditional Pueblo people. She and Julian are gone now, but their family carries on their tradition. She will never be forgotten among collectors of this wonderful artform.
