New Mexico Pottery Styles

I was at the incomparable Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos not too long ago and was very impressed by a fellow museum goer who could recognize what pueblo a piece of pottery was from by the glazing technique.

Clearly the design motifs used by southwestern Native American artists are distinct. Think of how different Canadian and Alaskan Native American art is, or Mayan. Not so clear are the differences within this southwest style between various tribes or pueblos. Nowhere are these distinctions more are easily recognizable when looking at pottery.

Of course many of the pottery designs that we see overlap between different pueblos. But there is always a particular characteristic associated with a particular pueblo. For example at Picuris and Taos they are known for the use of micaceous clay. At Pojoaque, Santa Clara and Tesuque they are known for red or black carved pots. At Jemez they create white pots with red and black representations of animals or rain clouds. The cliff-dwellers made white pots with purely geometric designs on a matte finish. Then we have Acoma, Cochiti and Zuni and Hopi who also each have a distinct set of stylistic differences. And again, that is just in the southwest.

Our friends at the Collectors Guide have a good description of various pottery styles.

If you want to learn more about the various styles Native American pottery, American Indian Design & Decoration by Le Roy Appleton is a great book. It’s a short easy read. The numerous illustrations really help you be able to recognize the difference between one style of pottery and another. There is also an easy to interpret map that shows the region of the Americas that was home each style.

As I learn about this vast and complex network we call the art market in New Mexico, I think that learning to recognize the subtle differences between styles is a meaningful way to respect the artist.