Maria Martinez
Early Life
Maria Martinez was born in 1887 and died on July 20, 1980. She grew up in San Ildefonso Peublo in Arizona which is only twenty miles away from Flagstaff, Arizona. Maria's aunt taught her pottery skills when she was young. When they began selling their pottery in Flagstaff, Spanish and Anglo pottery were becoming very popular so it became hard to sell. They began experimenting with different techniques because they didn't want their Pueblo pottery and traditional ways of making it fade away.
Pottery
Maria Martinez's work was styled after her heritage of the Peubloan people. She kept it alive in the work she did that became very popular. She did not know how popular her artwork would become because on her latest pots she did not sign her name on the bottom of them. My favorite pot is the purple one. The element of lines is used perfectly. There are not too many patterns going on. The glaze on this pot really brings the pot all together. I think the black pot and the plate are similar to the style of the purple one. They are simple, but there is enough going on that it draws your attention.