Jemez Pueblo Storyteller by Marie Gachupin Romero, Mother with Seven Children

Native American, Jemez Pueblo. A hand-built and painted pottery storyteller by Marie Gachupin Romero of Jemez Pueblo, signed and dated by the artist under the base. A seated mother figure is the storyteller here. She sits upright with her mouth open in mid-tale, and seven children cling to her lap, shoulders, and arms. Each small listener is modeled separately and pressed into place, so the group reads as a single crowded embrace. Romero coil-built and shaped the clay, then slipped and painted it before firing. Her figures are known for round, open faces, and the multiplying children follow the storyteller convention: the more listeners there are, the more generous the narrator. It is a celebration of the spoken word in clay, and also a fair picture of any parent who has tried to sit down for a moment. The storyteller form is a modern invention within an ancient craft. Helen Cordero of Cochiti Pueblo modeled the first storyteller in 1964. She based it on her grandfather, a respected teller of tales, and showed him covered in listening grandchildren. Earlier Cochiti "singing mother" figures were a precedent. Cordero's idea spread quickly to other pueblos. By the 1970s potters at Jemez, Cochiti, Tesuque, and elsewhere had adapted it, each in their own style and clay. The storyteller became one of the defining forms of twentieth-century Pueblo figurative ceramics. Jemez Pueblo, in the Jemez Mountains of north-central New Mexico, had largely stopped producing its traditional pottery in the early twentieth century. Its potters revived the craft in the following decades, and figurative work, especially the storyteller, became a central part of that revival. Marie Gachupin Romero (1927-2007) was among the Jemez potters who helped build this new tradition. She founded a family of potters: her daughters, including Maxine Toya and Laura Gachupin, carried figurative and vessel work forward in their own distinct styles. Signed and dated pieces from the early years of the Jemez storyteller revival document how the form took root at the pueblo. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 206134

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