Jemez Pueblo Frog Pottery By Phillip M. Fragua

Late 20th Century

3.625' H x 5.375" L x 4.125" W

Hand Built Frog with a Turtle on his Tongue Swallowing the Turtle and with a Man Riding on Top

From a Private Colorado Collection

In Very Good Condition

Phillip M. Fragua is a Native American potter from Jemez Pueblo (also known as Walatowa) in New Mexico. He was born in the 1950s and has created hand-built clay figures, primarily known for storyteller pottery—seated or standing figures with open mouths, surrounded by smaller child or animal figures representing the oral tradition of passing down stories.

He makes all his pottery entirely by hand using traditional Pueblo methods: hand-coiling, shaping, painting with natural pigments, and firing. He is part of a large, multi-generational Fragua family of potters from Jemez Pueblo, which is renowned for its vibrant polychrome (multi-colored) figurative work, including storytellers, singing mothers, and animal or anthropomorphic figures. His wife is Linda Lucero Fragua, and he is the grandson of potter Emilia Loretto.