San Ildefonso Pueblo Black Pottery By Than Tsideh Green Matte Paint

San Ildefonso Pueblo Black Pottery By Than Tsideh Green Matte Paint
Late 20th/Early 21st Century
Size 4" H x 4.25" D
Black Polished pottery with Green Matte Water Serpent, Avaynu Design
From a Private Colorado Collection
Excellent Condition
Than Tsideh, also known as Erik Sunbird Fender, is a renowned contemporary potter from the San Ildefonso Pueblo in New Mexico, specializing in traditional and innovative black-on-black pottery. Born in 1970, he comes from a distinguished lineage of potters, including his great-aunt, the legendary Maria Martinez, who helped revive the pueblo's pottery tradition in the early 20th century. His mother, Martha Appleleaf Fender, and grandmother, Carmelita Dunlap, were key influences, teaching him the craft from a young age. Fender began potting at age 10 by observing and assisting his family, and by 1992, he was apprenticed to his mother, honing skills in the iconic blackware style that originated at San Ildefonso in the 1920s to boost the local economy.
Fender signs his pieces "Than Tsideh," meaning "Sunbird" in Tewa, reflecting his artistic spirit. He hand-coils his pottery without a wheel, stone-polishes surfaces, and fires them traditionally to produce the signature gunmetal-black sheen. His designs often feature geometric patterns, feathers, and symbolic elements, blending tradition with contemporary flair.
San Ildefonso Pueblo is famous for its black-on-black pottery, a technique involving hand-coiling local clay, applying a matte slip, and firing in an outdoor pit to achieve a smoky, lustrous finish. The designs are created through selective burnishing—polishing raised areas to a high sheen while leaving others matte—resulting in intricate, monochromatic patterns inspired by nature, ancestral symbols, and Pueblo motifs like feathers, clouds, and avanyu (water serpents). This style, popularized by Maria Martinez and her husband Julian, uses all-natural materials, including paints boiled from native vegetation. Fender's work builds on this heritage but incorporates modern innovations, such as two-tone (black-on-red) pieces, polychrome wares, and sgraffito (incised) carvings for added depth.