Lisa Holt and Harlan Reano
are surely among the best young potters to emerge in recent years.
Lisa is half Cochiti on her
mother’s side and comes from an illustrious potting family.
Her grandmother is the well known Cochiti potter Seferina Ortiz,
her mother is Inez Ortiz, and she is the niece of Virgil Ortiz.
Harlan is half Santo Domingo
also on his mother’s side. He lived in Santo Domingo until
the age of 10 and was exposed to jewelry-making but not pottery.
He then moved to Santa Fe through high school and then to Albuquerque
where he met Lisa around 1999. They have been potting together
since 2000.
Initially, Lisa made only
figurines inspired by the old Cochiti tradition of human and
animal forms. More recently they have expanded into pots and
jars. Lisa is the potter, using Cochiti clay. Harlan is the painter
creating designs that are sometimes inspired by older Santo Domingo
pottery, but frequently are his own creations. They fire the
pots together.
For new potters they have
had amazing success at Santa Fe Indian Market. So far they have
two First Place ribbons, two Second Place ribbons, and in 2004
a Special Award.
