Maria Martinez

Maria Montoya Martinez
Maria Martinez, shown with physicist Enrico Fermi, circa 1948
Born	Maria Antonia Montoya 1881 (1881) San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico
Died	1980 (1981) (aged 99) San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico
Nationality	Tewa, Native American
Known for	Pottery, Ceramics
Movement	San Ildefonso School

Maria Montoya Martinez (1887, San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico – July 20, 1980, San Ildefonso Pueblo) was a Native American artist who created internationally known pottery. Martinez (born Maria Antonia Montoya), her husband Julian, and other family members examined traditional Pueblo pottery styles and techniques to create pieces which reflect the Pueblo people’s legacy of fine artwork and crafts.

Martinez was from the San Ildefonso Pueblo, a community located 20 miles northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico. At an early age, she learned pottery skills from her aunt. During this time, Spanish tinware and Anglo enamelware had become readily available in the Southwest, making the creation of traditional cooking and serving pots less necessary. Traditional pottery making techniques were being lost, but Martinez and her family experimented with different techniques and helped preserve the cultural art.

During an excavation in 1908 led by Edgar Lee Hewett, a professor of archaeology and the founder and director of the Museum of New Mexico in Santa Fe, examples of black-on-black pottery were discovered. While searching through the sandy dirt and red clay of the New Mexico desert terrain, broken pieces of polished, jet-black pottery were uncovered (Peterson 89). At this time, few people were aware that during the Neolithic period, the Pueblo peoples crafted this style of finished ware. The Historical Pottery of the Pueblo Indians 1600-1800 text states that the finished ... pottery held a glossy, melted appearance which was only used for decoration on the pots.

It is a common misconception that, "during the end of the 18th century, the use of plant pigments and finely powdered mineral substances became the preferred technique of painting and slowly caused the extinction of glazed pottery" (Frank and Harlow, 8). "In reality, the nearby inhabitants of Santa Clara Pueblo, were still producing the highly burnished, black on black pottery, since the 1600's, therefore lending to the revival of the San Ildefonso style of black on black "painted" pottery. The only difference between the two pueblo's styles is that in Santa Clara, pots are deeply carved and incised, whereas, in San Ildefonso, the pottery is generally not carved and painted with pigments to cause un-polished designs on a polished surface."