loading
reading
writing
saving
searching
Vintage Native American Emily Fragua Tsosie Jemez Storyteller Figure - $200 (SW Fort Collins)
QR Code Link to This Post
Excellent condition. May consider a reasonable offer.
Emily Fragua-Tsosie (also known as Emily Fragua), is a renowned Native American artist from the Jemez Pueblo. She is widely recognized for creating the type of traditional hand-coiled pottery storyteller figures.
Emily Fragua-Tsosie, (Corn Pollen), was born in 1951 in Jemez Pueblo. At the age of 12, she was inspired by her mother, Grace L. Fragua, and grandmother, Emilia Loretto, to make pottery sculptures. They encouraged and motivated her to learn the traditional art of working with clay so that she could add to the Jemez tradition of making art using ancient methods.
After the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, Jemez pottery production essentially stopped. The Jemez were prominent figures in the revolt and when the Spanish returned 12 years later, they made the Jemez a primary target. The Jemez, of course, resisted mightily. Similarly to how so many in central Asia responded to the Mongol invasions, the Jemez sent some folks into the nearby mountains, some prepared to stay and fight and others were sent a distance away, in this case to Hopi and Navajo country. While the fighting didn't last long, the Jemez pottery tradition went into a long slumber: there are extremely few Jemez/Towa pots from before the revolt anywhere and even less from after.