Santo Domingo Pueblo Pottery By Thomas Tenorio

ca. 2010

8" H x 8.375" D

Hand Coiled Vessel using Local Santo Domingo Clay which he Cleans and Mixes Himself. He scrapes and Polishes the Surfaces and Applies White Slip and Paints Intricate Bird and Flower Motifs with a Geometric Design with Natural Pigments

Excellent Condition

Thomas Tenorio (born 1963, Kewa Pueblo—formerly known as Santo Domingo Pueblo, New Mexico) is a self-taught Native American potter celebrated for reviving and innovating traditional Santo Domingo pottery techniques. Given the Keresan name "U-Nah-Thee-Wah" at birth, he comes from the Aguilar family, known for heishi bead-making, but discovered his great-grandmother's legacy in roadside pottery sales during the 1940s. Inspired by the fading tradition—once practiced by nearly every family in the pueblo during the 1930s and 1940s—Tenorio began creating pottery in the early 1990s to preserve this cultural heritage.