Curran, Dolores

“I work at night with just a lamp. I like the silence and like to keep everything dark around me so that I can concentrate only on the piece I’m working on…..I develop each design individually as I go along. I don’t have a portfolio because I don’t want to copy my own designs. Everything I do is more or less one of a kind.”

Dolores Curran was born in 1954 to potters Ursulita Naranjo and Alfred Naranjo of Santa Clara Pueblo. She is the granddaughter of Marie Suazo, sister of Geri Naranjo and aunt of Kevin Naranjo.

Dolores worked for three years as a bookkeeper for the State of New Mexico after graduating from the University of New Mexico. After her daughter Ursula was born, she turned to making pottery full time so she’d have time to spend with her daughter. Dolores was married to Alvin Curran from Ohkay Owingeh for more than seventeen years and the cross-pollination of Ohkay Owingeh and Santa Clara pottery styles has had a significant influence on her own style. After Alvin passed on, Dolores moved back to Santa Clara Pueblo.

A master potter, she creates her work in the traditional way: gathering all the raw materials she needs from the Santa Clara Pueblo area and firing her pottery outdoors using cedar and piñon pine in a tin firebox.

Well known for her redware and her black-on-black etched pots, she uses traditional Santa Clara elements of design like the Tewa water serpent (avanyu), feathers, clouds and kiva steps. Her extraordinary attention to detail, obvious in her stone polishing and the decorations on the back of her plates (in addition to the front) and painting each pot at least three times to achieve the required degree of opacity are among the elements that make her pieces so highly sought after. Much of her work is sold before she even completes it.

The detail of the painting on her miniatures is simply extraordinary, especially when you know that she never outlines the design before painting it.

Dolores earned a Best of Division ribbon for one of her creations at the Santa Fe Indian Market in 1993, which means her piece was judged to be the finest of all the hundreds of pots submitted to the juried competition that year. Dolores has earned many First, Second and Third Place ribbons plus ribbons for Best in Miniatures.

Dolores tells us her favorite pieces to make are plates and jars. She enjoys working with several different shades of black, matte and polished. She also likes working in shades of red with a white or buff slip. Her inspiration comes out of her own imagination: she likes to doodle and she’s seen some interesting design ideas come from that.

In her words: “I’m a home body but I love to go to Eagle Nest and Red River. I would love to live up there.” And: “My grandchildren are my greatest joy.”

Dolores signs her work: “Dolores Curran, Santa Clara Pueblo”.

Some Awards Dolores has earned

• 2018 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II – Pottery, Division C – Traditional Burnished Black or Red Ware; Incised, Painted or Carved, Category 701 – Carved of incised, black or red, under 8 inches: Honorable Mention
• 1998 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II, pottery. Div. D., traditional pottery. Best of Division
  – Cat. 1107, miscellaneous. First Place
• 1997 Santa Fe Indian Market. Div. J., pottery (miniatures) Cat. 1607, traditional forms. First Place
  – Cat. 1603, traditional forms. First Place
• 1996 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II, pottery. Div. D., traditional pottery. Best of Division
  – Cat. 1101, jars. First Place
• 1995 Santa Fe Indian Market. Div. K., pottery (miniatures), Cat. 1701, traditional jars. First Place
• 1993 Santa Fe Indian Market. Cat. 1201, jars. Div. E., traditional pottery. First Place
  – Class II, pottery. Best of Division
  – Class. 1705, vases. First Place
  – Cat. 1707, non-traditional. Second Place
• 1992 Santa Fe Indian Market. Div. E, traditional pottery. Best of Division
  – Cat. 1205, wedding vases. First Place
  – Cat., 1207, plates. First Place
  – Cat. 1208, miscellaneous. First Place
  – Div. K., pottery Cat. 1701, miniatures, traditional jars. First Place
• 1990 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II, pottery, Div. E. Best of Division
  – Cat. 1101, jars (up to 8 inches) First Place
  – Cat. 1108, plates. First Place
  – Cat. 1501, traditional jars. First Place
  – Cat. 1504, traditional other bowls. First Place
  – Div. H., non-traditional, Cat. 1303, jars. Third Place
• 1989 Santa Fe Indian Market. Div. E., traditional pottery etc. Best of Division
  – Cat. 1101, jars. First Place
• 1986 Santa Fe Indian Market. Div. J., miniatures (3 inches or less), Cat. 1405, traditional forms, miscellaneous. First Place
• 1984 Santa Fe Indian Market. Shops of the Blue Gem Award
• 1983 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class II, pottery. Div. H., miniatures. Second Place