Pueblo Storyteller Pottery

Helen Cordero of the Cochiti Pueblo is known as the first person to make a storyteller doll. The people of the Cochiti Pueblo in New Mexico, situated between the Rio Grande River and the Jemez Mountains, have been making distinctive pottery featuring black designs over the top of layers and layers of white clay slip for over one thousand years. Traditionally the potters of Cochiti made useful items such as pots, bowls, and other containers. They also made small figures of animals and people. Some of these figures were decorative. Others were used for ceremonies. One of the most common was a mother holding a child. These mother-child figures were known as “singing mothers” because their mouths were always left open to let the lullaby out. In 1964, drawing on the “singing mother” motif, Helen created a clay figure based upon her grandfather Santiago Quintana. Mr. Quintana was a renowned pueblo storyteller. What she most remembered about is seeing him with lots and lots of grandchildren, like herself, climbing on him, begging him for stories, a request that he almost never refused. He told stories of Coyote, Rabbit, and Badger, […]