San Ildefonso Pottery | Andrea Fisher Fine Pottery

Santana Martinez

San Ildefonso

A black-on-black plate decorated with an avanyu design

Santana Roybal (1909-2002) was born into a family of well-known San Ildefonso potters and painters. She grew up learning to make pots from her grandmother, Dominguita Pino Martinez.

Santana married Adam Martinez (first-born son of Maria and Julian Martinez) in 1926 and they lived in his parents' home for the next 8 years. During that time Santana learned Maria's way of making pots and Julian's methods of painting them.

After Julian passed away in 1943, Adam and Santana dedicated themselves to helping Maria continue with her business. Adam took over his father's duties with gathering and processing clay and firing pots. Santana worked with Maria making pots and painting them. The signature on most of Maria's pottery made through those years (1943-1956) reads "Marie + Santana".

In 1956 Maria began working with her youngest son, Popovi Da. It took him a while to get his skills up to snuff but that same year, he replaced Santana as Maria's primary painter. Adam and Santana graduated to making pottery on their own. Their signature became "Santana + Adam".

They were participants every year at the Santa Fe Indian Market from 1970 to 1999, earning several First, Second and Third Place ribbons plus Best of Class and Best of Division. In 1981 they earned the "Maria Poveka Award for Best Traditional San Ildefonso Pottery."

Andrea held an Indian Market Reception in the gallery featuring Adam and Santana on August 16, 1996. It was an evening cherished by all who came.

Adam and Santana had seven children and they taught most of them how to make pottery the traditional way.

Some Exhibits that Featured Adam and Santana's Work:

Awa Tsireh: Pueblo Painter and Metalsmith. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. November 4, 2017 - July 1, 2018. Note: curated by Diana F. Pardue and Norman Sandfield; accompanied by a catalog.
A Century of Pueblo Painters: San Ildefonso Pueblo 1900-1999. Adobe Gallery. Santa Fe, New Mexico. March 3, 2017 - April 30, 2017. Group show and sale with the following artists: José Angela Aguilar, Gilbert Atencio, Popovi Da, Tony Da, Louis Gonzales, Julián Martinez, Richard Martinez, Santana Roybal Martinez, José Encarnacion Peña, Tonita Vigil Peña, Tony Pena, Alfonso Roybal, José Disiderio Roybal, Tonita Roybal, Abel Sanchez, Romando Vigil, and Tomacito Vigil
Something Old, Something New, Nothing Borrowed: New Acquisitions from the Heard Museum Collection. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. April 2, 2011 - March 18, 2012
Gifts from the Community. Heard Museum West. Surprise, AZ. April 12, 2008 - October 12, 2008
Home: Native Peoples in the Southwest. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. 2005
The Collection Passions of Dennis and Janis Lyon. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. May 1, 2004 - September 1, 2004
A Revolution in the Making: The Pottery of Maria and Julian Martinez. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. May 10, 2003 - September 14, 2003
Hold Everything! Masterworks of Basketry and Pottery from the Heard Museum. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. November 1, 2001 - March 10, 2002
Passionate Involvement: Recent Acquisitions of the Heard Museum. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. March 1, 2001 - October 1, 2001
The Legacy of Generations: Pottery by American Indian Women. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. February 14, 1998 - May 17, 1998
The Legacy of Generations: Pottery by American Indian Women. The Museum of Women in the Arts. Washington, DC. October 9, 1997 - January 11, 1998
Recent Acquisitions from the Herman and Claire Bloom Collection. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ January 11, 1997 - July 1,1997
1979 Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts & Crafts Exhibit. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. November 21, 1979 - December 3, 1979
1978 Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts & Crafts Exhibit. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. November 24, 1978 - December 2, 1978
The Martinez Tradition. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. April 29, 1978 - August 30, 1978
1977 Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts & Crafts Exhibit. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. November 25, 1977 - December 3, 1977
1969 Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts and Crafts Show. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. 1969.
1968 Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts and Crafts Show. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. 1968.

Some Awards Earned by Adam and Santana:

1990 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II - Pottery, Division E - Traditional pottery, painted designs on burnished black or red surface, Category 1108 - Plates: Third Place
1986 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II - Pottery, Division E - Traditional pottery, painted designs on burnished black or red surface: Best of Division with Adam Martinez
1986 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II - Pottery, Division E - Traditional pottery, painted designs on burnished black or red surface, Category 1101 - Jars up to 8 inches tall: Second Place
1986 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II - Pottery, Division E - Traditional pottery, painted designs on burnished black or red surface, Category 1103 - Bowls: First Place
1984 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II - Pottery, Division E - Traditional pottery, painted designs on burnished black or red surface: Best of Division with Adam Martinez
1984 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II - Pottery, Division E - Traditional pottery, painted designs on burnished black or red surface: Category 1101 - Jars up to 8 inches tall: First Place. Awarded for collaborative artwork with Adam Martinez
1983 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II - Pottery, Division B - Traditional, undecorated: Third Place
1979 Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts & Crafts Exhibit, Classification VII - Pottery, Division A - Traditional methods of construction and firing: Honorable Mention. Awarded for artwork: Mat Design Bowl
1978 Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts & Crafts Exhibit, Classification VII - Pottery, Division A - Traditional: First Place shared with Adam Martinez. Awarded for artwork: Wedding jar
1978 Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts & Crafts Exhibit, Classification VII - Pottery, Division A - Traditional: Honorable Mention shared with Adam Martinez. Awarded for artwork: Small jar
1977 Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts & Crafts Exhibit, Classification VII - Pottery, Division A - Traditional shapes and design: Second Place with Adam Martinez. Awarded for artwork: Large bowl with lid
1969 Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts & Crafts Exhibit, Classification X - Pottery, Division A - Traditional as to materials, methods, shape, and design: Third Place
1968 Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts & Crafts Show, Classification IX - Pottery, Division A - Traditional materials, methods and design: First Place with Adam Martinez. Awarded for artwork: Feather Design Jug
1922 Southwest Indian Fair and Arts and Crafts Exhibition: Drawings of Pottery Designs: Pupils of Pueblo Day School: First Place. National Guard Armory, Santa Fe, New Mexico. September 1922. Note: awarded the Dougan Fund Prize for $2.00

100 West San Francisco Street, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
(505) 986-1234 - www.andreafisherpottery.com - All Rights Reserved

San Ildefonso Pueblo

Black Mesa at San Ildefonso Pueblo

San Ildefonso Pueblo is located about twenty miles northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, mostly on the eastern bank of the Rio Grande. Although their ancestry has been traced to prehistoric pueblos in the Mesa Verde area, their most recent ancestral home is in the area of Bandelier National Monument, the prehistoric village of Tsankawi in particular. Tsankawi abuts the reservation on its northwest side.

A mission church was built in 1617 and named for San Ildefonso. Hence the name. Before that the village was called Powhoge, "where the water cuts through" (in Tewa). Today's pueblo was established as long ago as the 1300s. When the Spanish arrived in 1540, they estimated the village population at about 2,000.

That mission was destroyed during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 and when Don Diego de Vargas returned to reclaim the San Ildefonso area in 1694, he found virtually all the Tewa people on top of nearby Black Mesa. After an extended siege the two sides negotiated a treaty and the people returned to their villages. However, the next 250 years were not good for them. The Spanish swine flu pandemic of 1918 reduced the pueblo's population to about 90. Their population has grown to more than 600 now but the only economic activity available on the pueblo involves creating art in one form or another. The only other work is off-pueblo. San Ildefonso's population is small compared to neighboring Santa Clara Pueblo, but the pueblo maintains its own religious traditions and ceremonial feast days.

San Ildefonso is most known for being the home of the most famous Pueblo Indian potter, Maria Martinez. Many other excellent potters from this pueblo have produced quality pottery, too, among them: Blue Corn, Tonita and Juan Roybal, Dora Tse Pe and Rose Gonzales. Of course the descendants of Maria Martinez are still important pillars of San Ildefonso's pottery tradition. Maria's influence reached far and wide, so far and wide that even Juan Quezada of the Mata Ortiz pottery renaissance in Chihuahua, Mexico, came to San Ildefonso to learn from her.

Map showing the location of San Ildefonso Pueblo

For more info:
San Ildefonso Pueblo at Wikipedia
Pueblo of San Ildefonso official website
Pueblos of the Rio Grande, by Daniel Gibson
Photo is in the public domain

Maria Martinez Family Tree

Disclaimer: This "family tree" is a best effort on our part to determine who the potters are in this family and arrange them in a generational order. The general information available is questionable so we have tried to show each of these diagrams to living members of each family to get their input and approval, too. This diagram is subject to change should we get better info.

Cipriana Peña (c. 1810-)
- Santana Peña (1846-) & Antonio Domingo Peña (1841-)
  - Nicolasa Peña Montoya (1863-1904) & Juan Cruz Montoya
    - Tonita Martinez Roybal (1892-1945) & Alfredo Montoya
    - Isabel Montoya (1898-1996) & Benjamin Atencio
      - Angelita Atencio Sanchez (1927-1993) & Santiago Sanchez
        
        Sandra Sanchez Chaparro
      - Gilbert Atencio (1930-1995)
      - Tony Atencio (1928-)
      - Helen Gutierrez (1935-1993) & Frank Gutierrez (Santa Clara)
        
        Carol & James Gutierrez
        
        Kathy Gutierrez Naranjo & Ernest J. Naranjo
        
        Rose Gutierrez
        
        Geraldine Gutierrez Shije (1959-)
    - Rayita Montoya
    - Santana Montoya & Antonio Vigil
      - Lupita Vigil Martinez (1918-2006) & Anselmo Martinez (1909-1965)
  - Reyes Peña (d. 1909) & Tomas Montoya (d. 1914)
    - Desideria Montoya (1889-1982)
    - Maria Montoya Martinez (1887-1980) & Julian Martinez (1884-1943)
      - Adam Martinez (1903-2000) and Santana Roybal Martinez (1909-2002)
        
        George Martinez (1943-) & Pauline Martinez (Santa Clara)(1950-)
        
        Adam Martinez
        
        Jesse Martinez
        
        Jolene Martinez
        
        Anita Martinez (d. 1992) & Pino Martinez
        
        Barbara Tahn-Moo-Whe Gonzales (1947-) & Robert Gonzales
        
        Aaron Gonzales (1971-)
        
        Brandon Gonzales (1983-)
        
        Cavan Gonzales (1970-)
        
        Derek Gonzales (1986-)
        
        Kathy Wan Povi Sanchez (1950-) & Gilbert Sanchez
        
        Corrine Sanchez
        
        Gilbert Abel Sanchez
        
        Liana Sanchez
        
        Wayland Sanchez
        
        Evelyn Than-Povi Garcia
        
        Myra Garcia
        
        Berlinda Garcia
        
        Peter Pino
        
        Viola Martinez/Sunset Cruz & Johnnie Cruz Sr.
        
        Beverly Martinez (1960-1987)
        
        Marvin Martinez (1964-) and Frances Martinez
        
        Marvin Lee Martinez
        
        Johnnie Cruz Jr. (1975-)
      - Popovi Da (1921-1971) & Anita Da
        
        Tony Da (1940-2008)
    - Maximiliana Montoya (1885-1955) & Cresencio Martinez (1879-1918)
    - Juanita Vigil (1898-1933) & Romando Vigil (1902-1978)
      - Carmelita Vigil (1925-1999) & Nicholas Cata
        
        Martha Appleleaf (1950-)
        
        Erik Fender (1970-)
        
        Gloria Maxey (d. 1999)
        
        Angelina Maxey (1970-)
        
        Jessie Maxey (1972-)
      - Carmelita Vigil (Dunlap) (1925-1999) & Carlos Dunlap (d. 1971)
        
        Carlos Sunrise Dunlap (1958-1981)
        
        Cynthia Star Flower Dunlap (1959-)
        
        Jeannie Mountain Flower Dunlap (1953-)
        
        Linda Dunlap (1955-)
  - Philomena Peña & Juan Gonzales & Ramona Sanchez (Robert's mother)
    - Robert Gonzales & Rose (Cata) Gonzales (San Juan)
      - Tse-Pe & Dora Tse-Pe (Zia)
        
        Candace Tse-Pe
        
        Gerri Tse-Pe
        
        Irene Tse-Pe
      - Tse-Pe (1940-2000) & Jennifer Tse-Pe (Sisneros) (second wife, San Juan/Santa Clara)
    - Oqwa Pi (Abel Sanchez)(1899-1971) & Tomasena (Cata) Sanchez (1903-1985, Rose Gonzales' sister)
      - Skipped generation
        
        Russell Sanchez (1966-)
    - Louis Wo-Peen Gonzales & Juanita Wo-Peen Gonzales (1909-1988)
      - Adelphia Martinez
      - Lorenzo Gonzales (adopted) (1922-1995)
      - Blue Corn (Crucita Calabaza - Lorenzo's sister) (1921-1999)
- Tonita Peña (1847-c. 1910)
  - Anastacia Peña (c. 1876-)
    - Luisa Peña
  - Isabel Peña (c. 1881-) & Pasqual Martinez
    - Teracita Martinez
    - Petronella Martinez & Emiliano Abeyta (San Juan/Ohkay Owingeh)
      - Philopeta Martinez (1925-) & Patrick Torres
        
        Elvis Torres (1960-)
      - Torivia Martinez

Other info is derived from personal contacts with family members and through interminable searches of the Internet.