About Us

Andrea Fisher opened the gallery on April Fools Day in 1993. She moved to Santa Fe 46 years ago, eight years after graduating from the University of California at Berkeley. Waitress, sales clerk (mens' underwear), department store buyer, art teacher, Indian art museum buyer, all lead her kicking and screaming into the gallery business. No regrets! She lives in a house built approximately in 1350 AD (yes, people lived in New Mexico before Columbus) and spends a great portion of her time keeping it standing. Collecting folk art, cactus and succulent plants, gardening, traveling, cooking and canning keep her on the move. "Some day they will carry me out in a box" and that will be her official retirement. Luckily, she has her son, Derek, to carry on the business. During the pandemic, watching her hair grow like a weed, she dyed it bright red, just for the fun of it.

Derek Fisher was born in Santa Fe and when he was 4 years old began helping his mother, Andrea, dust the pottery collection in their living room. When he was a sophomore in high school, as a computer class project, he and his friend Augustine built the web site we still use today. Every summer while in college at UC Santa Cruz, he worked in the gallery maintaining the web site and doing all of the financials which he continues to do today. He came on board permanently after a 3 year stint at Bonny Doon Winery in California. Derek is an avid outdoors man, and has a medical record of broken bones and serious injurys to prove it. Skiing, mountain biking, hiking, camping would occupy all of his time if we let him. Derek worked more than full time keeping the gallery alive during the pandemic. He is pictured with his beloved dogs, Stout and Honey. Unfortunately, Honey passed away on October 13, 2021

Honey and Stout are both 100% "pure-bred animal shelter" dogs. Derek may be the owner but they are certainly part of of the Andrea Fisher Fine Pottery family. They are our official greeters.....except when they are sleeping under a desk. They have had their bellies scratched by visitors from all over the world. Honey (the long haired) loves dog treats and carrots and Stout (the short haired) is not picky. When Stout was a puppy, he ate Derek's entire 25 foot garden hose. They can often be seen blocking the front door, waiting to be petted as they watch the world go by. For several years Honey was probably the most photographed dog in Santa Fe, lying in the doorway as she often loved to do. It seemed like she graced the front cover of one magazine or another at least once every year.

Al, for decades, was a frequent visitor to Santa Fe and finally moved here ten? years ago. Before retiring from art teaching in Wisconsin, for years he "volunteered" at the gallery over Indian Market. He describes himself as the "secretary" who jokingly says secretaries get to sit on the bosses lap. Standing at 6'5' and recently loosing over 100 pounds at Weight Watchers, Al has replaced that weight with his jewelry collection. Al is the consummate collector. After donating 550 pieces of American Indian pottery to his partners college museum, one could not tell there was anything removed from his home. During the pandemic, Al was busy making inventory of his beautiful and unique note cards and gift tags which he sells at some of the finest shops in Santa Fe. Al has more friends and knows more people than any person alive.

Jennifer (Jen) has been in Santa Fe for more than six years, arriving from Asheville, North Carolina. Twenty years ago she created a consulting company that provides public relations advice for national and international businesses and organizations. A few years later she hired her favorite and only employee, her father. She still consults, but for fun she works at the gallery. Jennifer is a serious collector of masks and pottery of the Americas. During the pandemic she was busy spoiling her dog, Tilly, with her 75 dog toys and "supporting her favorite local chefs and missing her local bar stool".

Denece took 25 years of visiting New Mexico before moving from northern Michigan, by way of the Pacific Northwest, to Santa Fe. Originally, she was a gallery customer and joined the staff a couple years ago. Denece has downsized from luxury yachts and real estate to selling Indian pottery. During the pandemic she spent time hiking but her most fun was going on line "hunting and gathering".

"Born and raised in Santa Fe, I've always had a deep love for this city, and of course, it's history and prehistory. My adoration of Pueblo pottery began as a young child when I frequently found ancient pot sherds on my great grandparents property south of Santa Fe. Curiosity took over, one question led to another, and before I knew it, I found myself immersed in books on Southwestern archeology. Eventually, I learned about the world's most famous Native American potter, Maria Martinez. This opened the door to a world full of Native American potters I had never heard of before. During my free time, I study various styles and patterns on pottery from different modern and prehistoric pueblos. While working in the gallery, which really does not feel like work, has strengthened my knowledge of Pueblo pottery and the people who make it. When I'm not searching through countless archaeological reports and books on Pueblo pottery, I'm usually outdoors hiking, eating at my favorite restaurants, shopping, or enjoying time with my family." - from David

Steve joined our staff in March 2022, after moving to Santa Fe from a one time visit 45 years ago. He has lived in New York, Chicago, Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing with careers in law, finance and business. He returned to Santa Fe in 2021 in order to remember what the sky looked like again. Steve has collected pottery from Asia over the decades and now is delighted to add Pueblo pottery into the mix. A devotee of expanding his knowledge of history and culture, he revels in his new life in Santa Fe, meeting many of our Pueblo artists and sharing his joy of their work with the wide variety of our customers. He strives to be helpful in your search for the right heart-tugging piece of pottery, and, on occasion, will add a moment of levity to the process.

Scott is our computer geek. For several years he spent hours in a tiny corner in the gallery photographing every pot received and inputting all of the information onto our web site. He is such a computer whiz that during those years he also rebuilt Derek's original web site design and improved it to be the comprehensive and easy to navigate site that it is today. Then we moved him to the lower level so he could have more space. Scott has lived everywhere and has many a tale to tell about each place. He and his wife are raising their granddaughter, Ruth, who is now in middle school. He spent most of his time during the pandemic homeschooling, and working on building us a new, even more informative website. After ten years of doing this for us, he is still our computer guru.