Naranjo, Eunice

Eunice Maize Naranjo is a Dineh woman who was born on the Navajo Nation in 1958. She was raised in a family of weavers but she told us she didn’t have the patience for weaving. She said she played with clay early on in her day school education but she had no real exposure to pottery making until after she married Joseph G. Naranjo of Santa Clara Pueblo and moved to his home there.

Joe had learned how to make pottery from his mother, Isabel Naranjo, as he was growing up. Eunice learned how by watching and working with Joe. Together, they make highly polished black jars and bowls, usually carved with an avanyu (the mythic Tewa water serpent) or a bear paw design.

Eunice on her own has developed some interesting matte and glossy black animal figures that she sometimes decorates by adding bits of cotton and wool to.