Cordero, Damacia

Born around 1905 at Cochiti Pueblo, Damacia Cordero was the second wife of Santiago Cordero. She began producing pottery for the market in the early 1920s and became very well known for her whimsical figures, effigies and dinosaurs. She also made traditional polychrome jars and bowls.

In the 1950s Damacia began making Singing Mothers, then storytellers. Her style was like much older traditions: her figures tended to have long, straight torsos, long arched noses extending down from the hairline, and large, protruding ears that often resembled fins or wings. She also did minimal modeling of her adult arms and her baby figures.

Her daughters, Marie Laweka, Martha Arquero, Josephine Arquero and Gloria Herrera learned to make pottery by watching and working with her as they grew up. She also taught Dorothy Trujillo.

Damacia passed on in 1989.

Some Exhibits that featured works by Damacia

  • Home: Native Peoples in the Southwest. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. 2005
  • The Seven Families of Pueblo Pottery. Simply Santa Fe. Santa Fe, NM. 1990
  • Earth, Hands, Life: Southwestern Ceramic Figures. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. 1989
  • Cochiti Pueblo Storytellers. Adobe Gallery. Albuquerque, NM. 1982
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