Native American Storytellers ~ Singing Mothers
"The
inventor of the Storyteller form is Helen Cordero
of the Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico, though the tradition
of figurative pottery predates Helen by many centuries.
In their excellent book,
"The Pueblo Storyteller', Barbara Babcock, and Guy
and Doris Monthan date figurative pottery in the Southwest
to perhaps as early 300 B.C. and certainly as early as
400 A.D. among the Anasazi, the predecessors of today's
Pueblo Indians.
Helen
Cordero was born in 1915. In the 1950s she was making "Singing
Mother" figures. These were sitting female figures
holding one or two children on their laps. They were
quite popular and were made by many Cochiti potters.
In 1964, Helen Cordero made the innovation which would
prove to be a milestone in figurative pottery. Instead
of the traditional female figure, she modeled one after
her grandfather, Santiago Quintana. The grandfather storyteller,
his mouth open and five children clinging to him, was
an endearing figure and the public sought more. We have
learned that Helen Cordero believes that the true storyteller
is a male figure, and that female figures are properly
called
"Singing Mothers." As their creator she certainly
is an authority on the subject of storytellers, but the
form she began has taken on a life of its  own.
More and more people are making storytellers, at Cochiti,
the surrounding pueblos, and even from other peoples like
the Navajo, Blackfoot, and Hispanics. The term "storyteller" has
become generic and is used to describe not only male figures,
but females, clowns, mudheads, frogs, owls, turtles, coyotes
...nearly any figure that has an adult figure surrounded
by or covered with children.”
From
"Storytellers and Other Figurative Pottery" by
Douglas Congdon-Martin. Published by Schiffer Publishing,
Atglen, Pennsylvania. A wonderful book that we highly recommend
to those interested in Storytellers. This book can be ordered
by clicking the title of the book as found on our Learn
More page. Click here.
Click
the links below to see work by these artists. |
