Cordero, Buffy

Elizabeth “Buffy” Cordero-Suina was born to George Cordero and Kathy Cordero at Cochiti Pueblo in November, 1969. She learned to make pottery through watching and working with her father and her famous grandmother, Helen Cordero.

When Buffy was a child, her family lived in a home behind her grandmother’s. That made it easy to visit. She remembers sitting at her grandmother’s workbench day after day and asking her “What are you making today?” Then when she was about 11, Helen didn’t answer, she just tossed Buffy a lump of clay. That’s when Buffy made her first little animal figure.

Buffy says she is like her grandmother: not very good at making bowls or pots of any sort. But making figures is different. Even the clay mix is different. Helen preferred using a gray base clay instead of the more abundant red clay found around Cochiti. Buffy learned to add volcanic ash with a little sand to that gray clay to make her pieces. Then she applies a white slip over the finished surface and polishes that before adding painted decorations.

A strict traditionalist, Buffy always follows her grandmother’s instructions faithfully. All of her materials are strictly natural, including the mineral paints she used (in her words: “I don’t want to use weird color paint”). She doesn’t work on Sundays or on feast days. She never fires when it’s windy or wet. She also never fires a piece when anyone other than members of her immediate family are watching (Helen never allowed anyone to watch either).

Buffy’s favorite style to make is the family’s trademark storyteller, with lots of children on them. Her father’s storytellers were almost indistinguishable from his mother, Helen’s, but Buffy’s are quite distinct. Nearly all of Buffy’s storytellers have a dog on them, because Buffy’s children like dogs. But even more of a trademark for her is the little boy either reclining on his back or standing with his hands on his hips.

Like her grandmother, Buffy has also made a few “Children’s Story Hour” sets with a larger grandfather figure singing to separate smaller children figures scattered on the floor around him.

Early in her career, Buffy decided she wouldn’t do anything new unless it came directly from the pueblo life around her: a scene, a dance, a ceremony. She was not going to make figures of tourists, circus performers, bearded ladies or mermaids like many Cochiti potters were making before she was born.

Some Exhibits that featured Buffy’s work

• Pottery by American Indian Women: The Legacy of Generations. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. February 14, 1998 – May 17, 1998
• Pottery by American Indian Women: The Legacy of Generations. The Museum of Women in the Arts. Washington, DC. October 9, 1997 – January 11, 1998
• American Indian Art Festival and Market. Artist Square, Dallas Arts District, Dallas, TX. November 9, 1990 – November 11, 1990