Andrew Padilla
Winter Gourd
8" H
x 7 1/4" D
Andrew Padilla was born in
1956. He is half Laguna and half Santa Clara.
He was inspired to learn the
art of working with clay from his grandmother, Reycita Padilla.
She was from the Santa Clara Pueblo and began teaching Andrew
all the fundamentals of pottery making at the age of 10.
Reycita taught him how to
hand coil black on black traditional Santa Clara pottery. He
continued making the Santa Clara pottery until 1982. When he
moved to the Laguna Pueblo, he experimented with the white Laguna
clay. He learned this process from his mother, Gladys Paquin.
Gladys showed Andrew which mesa provided the best clay so he
would only use the finest natural pigments to make his pottery.
She also taught him all of her special techniques of working
with clay.
The clay is gathered in the
early spring and the beginning of the fall. He cleans, mixes,
hand coils, shapes, and fires his pottery the traditional way,
outdoors. He hand coils many different shapes and sizes of pottery.
He enjoys making the white melon vessels and on occasion accents
a kiva step lid as the crown.
Andrew has combined his Santa
Clara and Laguna cultures to create this elegant contemporary
style of art which he is credited with.
He signs his pottery as: Andrew
Padilla, Laguna, N.M.
Awards:
-1999 New Mexico State Fair
4th Place
Publications:
-Southern Pueblo Pottery 2,000
Artist Biographies
-Southwestern Pottery Anasazi to Zuni
-Collections of Southwestern Pottery
-Southwestern Pottery 1999 Edition
-Pueblo Indian Pottery 750 Artist Biographies
-Arts Focus Magazine May/June 1998 Edition
