Trujillo, Dorothy

Dorothy Loretto Trujillo was born into Jemez Pueblo in April 1932. Her parents were Carrie Reid Loretto (Laguna) and Louis Loretto (Jemez). Her paternal grandmother was Guadalupe Madalena Loretto.

Dorothy was educated at the San Diego Mission School, returning to Jemez Pueblo in the summers. She learned how to make pottery through watching and working with her mother and grandmother during those summers.

After she married Onofre Trujillo and moved to his home at Cochiti Pueblo, she earned permission to use Cochiti clay. Then she learned to make Cochiti-style pottery from her husband’s aunt, Damacia Cordero.

Dorothy made polychrome jars and bowls but preferred making storytellers, nativities and other figures. Until about 1985, Dorothy was very active in the exhibition market, earning ribbons at Santa Fe Indian Market, New Mexico State Fair and the Santo Domingo Arts & Crafts Show.

Some of Dorothy’s pottery is on display at the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of Natural History in Washington DC and at the Heard Museum in Phoenix.

After teaching her daughters and several others how to make pottery the traditional way, Dorothy passed on in 1999.