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Maria Martinez

Maria Martinez One of the most well known figures of the twentieth century pottery world is Maria Martinez. Maria Martinez is a Pueblo Indian part of the San Ildefondo tribe. Pueblo pottery from the American Southwest holds a unique place in ceramic art forms of American art. It is full of age-old tradition and culture handed down form family members and potters of the past. The old Pueblo ways of creating it still hold true today and have not been changed or influenced like so many other styles in modern times. One of the amazing factors involving Maria Martinez’s work has been the incredible length of time that she has spent in producing her pottery. Her life has been spent learning, perfecting, teaching and expanding her art, passion and craft. Maria was born in the 1880’s and had been an active potter for over 70 years. Taking in to consideration the difficulties of the environment where she lived and worked, acquiring the needed materials for her work and the labor and physical energy required along with it, the sheer tenacity with which she has produced her work is inspiring. Maria did not merely buy her clay and materials in a local art supply, for in her pueblo culture and village, there weren’t any. Instead, as her ancestors did for numerous years before her, she learned how to harvest and collect the materials she needed to produce her work form then earth and surround lands of her village. Kilns were hand made and fired. Clay was dug from the ground and prepared in the same manner it had been taught and passed down from her ancestors. Glazes and finishing materials were also produced by hand (Peterson 48). Her curiosity is also to be admired as she asked the traditional artist questions of, “ what will happen if I want to do or make this, but I am not sure how, what do I do next?” (Maloof 28). It has been said that ten percent of true artist endeavors are inspiration, and ninety percent are perspiration. In Maria’s case that surely holds true. A great artist is always recognized in his or her ability to see in different ways than the rest of the world and then translate that vision into a form for others to see and understand. It is this idea that defines an artist. As a young woman, Maria was known as the most skilled potter of her pueblo tribe. For this reason, an archaeologist asked her to recreate the original shapes of ancient black pots that he had excavated (Anthony ppPG). The challenge of the task took over the need to make new work or simply utilitarian work. It became her focal point of all her pottery work and effort. The work was an old style. One more labor intensive and eventually discarded. As with many other art forms, the original format is often considered less effective because it produces fewer actual pieces or the intended art. In reality, the tenacious effort applied in careful traditional processes allows the soul of the artist to infuse the artwork with the true intended meaning. It has been termed, “ black on Black” work. (Peterson 23) “Black on Black” sounds as though it may be an unimaginative concept, however, on the contrary it is truly subtle work, as a matte finish black surface is balanced and blended with a shiner, polychrome black. Could it be that the juxtaposition of the finishes serves as a metaphor for light in the darkness compared to flat darkness? Only Maria truly knows. It is almost as though a soft black is shadowed next to a bright one and the combination of both, create a piece visually greater that is the two finishes were to stand alone on two separate pieces. Therefore, what Maria has created in what at first seems to be a simple piece of ceramics, is actually a representation of her own views on spirituality and beauty (Peterson 37). By 1918, the years of effort, hard work, and dedication to their passion had paid off for Maria and her husband Julian. The two had perfected their black on black technique, and then spent the remainder of their careers with the pueblo, making a lucrative living producing their work for museums and collectors worldwide. To own a piece of work by either half of this incredible couple is a symbol for modern collectors of an awareness of the finer qualities of pueblo pottery. Such is the case throughout the world and not just for the collectors and appreciators of Southwestern art and creation. Most of the early works by Maria and Julian Martinez are unsigned. This ranges in the years from 1918-1923. By 1923 Maria began signing their pieces with a simple “Marie”. Julian, her husband’s name, was not signed on the pieces due to the pueblo conception that pottery was women’s work. By 1925 and up until Julian’s death in 1943, Maria shared the signature with Julian. The newer signature used was “ Marie & Julian” (west 22). There is some thought that Maria signed her name as Marie instead of Maria because she was told falsely told that “Marie” was a more familiar name than “Maria” to the non-Indian general public. Because of this she signed the name “Marie” for over thirty long years. Following the publication of Alice Marriott’s book, Maria: The Potter of San Ildefonso, she began signing her true name “Maria” on all her pieces. In the telling, it may be difficult to look back at suck an incident, and realize the power differential between the Indian and the Anglo world. However, in the art world, such distinction has merit in terms of the individual artist’s own expression of their perception (Maloof). It is necessary for us not to fall into a pattern of judgment about such biasness or discrimination against her people and culture, but to simply acknowledge the reality of the situation. From the art perspective, it may be possible that the work signed under the name “Marie” may have a different personal value or worth to Maria than that which was signed with her true name “Maria”. Not that the value or the artistic quality of the work changed, nor did it’s beauty, but rather that the political or societal ramifications around the work did change (Peterson 52). Maria’s willingness to ignore the bias of many cultures and produce her work with her real name is another testimony of her character, strength, pride, and her upbringing as Pueblo. Another factor of importance in consideration of the work of Maria Martinez is that not only did she receive a technique, but also she revived a lyrical style of design that had dropped out of favor with collectors and pottery admirers. The previous severe edges of design under the hand of Maria were translated into lines and curves reminiscent of water in a land where water, was, and still to this day is a precious commodity. And although there is some discussion about the end product of female and male art, it is not difficult to imagine the fluid lines of these designs mimicking the curve of the hand that produces them (Maloof 36). Maria’s acclaim in the art world brought back a certain pride to the Pueblo people, during a time when the majority of young Indians were shipped to American boarding schools so they could learn “appropriate” methods and skills in the world, rather than the “barbaric” or “primitive” methods of there ancestors. Alfreda Ward Maloof writes in Recollections From My Time in the Indian Service 1935 – 1943, of meeting Maria Martinez and of being impressed my her abundant skills and vibrant enthusiasm. She even developed a primer that she planed to use instructing students in reading entitled, “Maria Martinez Makes Pottery.” It may have been one of the first Bureau of Indian Services attempts at creating positive role models for their students. Unfortunately Malodor’s plans did not materialize before she left the Indian Service and the information she collected about Maria’s life, work, and art, nor the plans Maloof had made to use it were not picked up by anyone else. Maria Martinez’s pottery remains of major collecting interest in the art world due to its supreme sophistication. It dispels the myth that primitive people were incapable of sophistication which may stand the test of time, glow with a maturity and fluidity of design, and reflects the earth philosophy which paraphrases that we as humans are also basically clay vessels capable of great beauty (West). Bibliography: Works Cited: 1. Anthony, Alexander. Matriarchs 1983 Pp pG. 2. Maloof, Alfreda Ward. “Maria Martinez Makes Pottery” Recollections from My Time in the Indian Service. 1935 – 1943. Living Gold Press. Jan 1999. 3. Peterson, Susan. The Living Tradition of Maria Martinez. 1977. Kodansha International, New York. 4. West, Richard. “Jewel of New Mexico”, Country Living, Jan 1,1998. Vol 21 pp 22(3). 5. www.Infoseek.com Feb. 28, 2001.

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