Torivio, Dorothy

Dorothy Torivio was born at Acoma Pueblo in 1946. She grew up learning how to make pottery by watching her mother, Mary Valley, make pottery. After Dorothy married Peter Concho, her mother-in-law, Lolita Concho, took Dorothy under her wing and completed her education in the ancient ways.

Dorothy made traditional polychrome and black-on-white bowls, jars, seed pots, deer, owls and other figures. Dorothy is most known for her innovative seed pots, usually painted with eye-dazzling geometric designs. They earned her many awards, beginning with a Best of Division, Traditional Pottery at the 1984 Santa Fe Indian Market. During that same Indian Market Dorothy was also awarded a First Place ribbon in the Traditional Jars category and a Second Place ribbon in the Seed Pots category.

Dorothy and her pottery were featured in Susan Peterson’s The Legacy of Generations: Pottery by American Indian Women exhibition that began at The National Museum of Women in the Arts in 1997 in Washington, DC, and traveled to several museums around the country through 1997 and 1998.

Dorothy passed her knowledge on to her niece, Sandra Victorino, well before she passed in 2011.

Some Exhibits that featured pieces by Dorothy

• Home: Native People in the Southwest. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. Opened May 22, 2005
• New Directions in Southwestern Native American Pottery. Peabody Essex Museum. Salem, Massachusetts. November 16, 2001 – March 17, 2002
• The Legacy of Generations: Pottery by American Indian Women. The National Museum of Women in Arts. Washington, DC. October 9, 1997 – January 11, 1998
• The Legacy of Generations: Pottery by American Indian Women. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. February 14, 1998 – May 17, 1998
• Master Artists of the Southwest. Quintana Galleries. Portland, Oregon. September 24-26, 1993
• Fifth Annual Hollywood Premiere. Four Seasons Hotel. Los Angeles, California. November 23, 1991
• The Perfection of Southwest Pottery. Gallery 10. Scottsdale, Arizona. February 21, 1991
• Our 1990 Indian Market Week Shows. Gallery 10. Santa Fe, New Mexico. August 10-17, 1990
• New Works by Jody Folwell, Dorothy Torivio and Jacquie Stevens. Gallery 10. Scottsdale, Arizona. March 8, 1990
• The Absolute Best of Indian Market. Gallery 10. Four Seasons Hotel. Los Angeles, California. November 18-20, 1989
• Exhibition of Richard Zane Smith, Dorothy Torivio, LuAnn Tafoya and Thomas Natseway. Gallery 10. Scottsdale, Arizona. March 2-8, 1989
• Individual Statements of Style. Gallery 10. Scottsdale, Arizona. February 25, 1988
• The Best of Indian Market ’87: Six Nationally Prominent Native American Artists. Four Seasons Hotel. Los Angeles, California. November 28-29, 1987
• Exhibition of Richard Zane Smith, Dorothy Torivio, Polly Folwell and Fred Myers. Gallery 10. Scottsdale, Arizona. February 5-17, 1987
• Innovators in Southwestern Native American Ceramics. Gallery 10. Scottsdale, Arizona. February 6-19, 1986
• Jewels of the Southwest. Gallery 10. Scottsdale, Arizona. December 3, 1985 – January 4, 1986
• The Pottery of Jody Folwell and Grace Medicine Flower, with “Rising Stars” including Dorothy Torivio & Richard Zane Smith, potters. Morning Star Gallery. Santa Fe, New Mexico. August 12-17, 1985

Some Awards earned by Dorothy

• 2004 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, Classification VIII – Pottery, Division A – Traditional/Native clay/hand (painted): Best of Division
• 1998 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II – Pottery, Division F – Traditional pottery, painted designs on matte or semi-matte surface, all forms except jars, Category 1302 – Seed bowls (over 7″ in diameter): First Place
• 1995 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II – Pottery, Division G – Traditional pottery, painted designs on matte or semi-matte surface, all forms except jars, Category 1402 – Seed bowls (over 7″ in diameter): Second Place
• 1994 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II – Pottery, Division G – Traditional pottery, painted designs on matte or semi-matte surface, all forms except jars, Category 1402 – Seed bowls (over 7″ in diameter): First Place
• 1994 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II – Pottery, Division G – Traditional pottery, painted designs on matte or semi-matte surface, all forms except jars, Category 1406 -Other vases: Second Place
• 1984 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II – Pottery, Division F – Traditional pottery, painted designs on matte or semi-matte surface: Best of Division. Awarded for jar
• 1984 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II – Pottery, Division F – Traditional pottery, painted designs on matte or semi-matte surface, Category 1202 – Jars, Acoma or Laguna: First Place
• 1984 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II – Pottery, Division F – Traditional pottery, painted designs on matte or semi-matte surface, Category 1205 – Seed bowls: Second Place
• 1984 Heard Museum Guild Native American Invitational Arts Show: Best of Pottery Award. Awarded for artwork: Large Brown Jar
• 1984 Heard Museum Guild Native American Invitational Arts Show: Judge’s Choice Award – Dennis Lyons. Awarded for artwork: Small Seed Jar
• 1984 Heard Museum Guild Native American Invitational Arts Show: Judge’s Choice Award – Clara Lee Tanner. Awarded for artwork: Small Seed Jar
• 1984 Heard Museum Guild Native American Invitational Arts Show, Classification II – Pottery, Division A – Traditional Construction and Firing Method: First Place. Awarded for artwork: Large Brown Jar
• 1984 Heard Museum Guild Native American Invitational Arts Show, Classification II – Pottery, Division D – Miniatures (Under 2 1/4″): First Place. Awarded for artwork: Miniature Seed Jar
• 1987 Gallup InterTribal Indian Ceremonial, Category VI – Pottery, Jar, Seed Jar: Second Place
• 1987 Gallup InterTribal Indian Ceremonial, Category VI – Pottery, Decorated, any object: First Place