Cheromiah, Evelyn

Evelyn Cheromiah (1928-2013) was a potter from Laguna Pueblo who was instrumental in bringing back the Laguna pottery tradition. In the early part of the 1900s, the railroads offered Laguna men well-paying jobs. Laguna women from those days didn’t have to make pottery, they could afford to buy it from Acoma. In the 1950s a uranium mine opened on pueblo land with more good-paying jobs for Laguna men and women. Pottery making at Laguna saw even less interest.

Come the 1970s and Evelyn worked with Nancy Winslow, an Anglo woman from Albuquerque, to get a Federal grant to teach traditional pottery making on the pueblo. The first class in 1973 had 22 pueblo members enrolled, Evelyn’s daughters among them. It was a four-month class that saw pottery making take hold again at Laguna. In 1974 Evelyn held another class with even more people in attendance. Then the funding ran out.

Evelyn went on to a career filled with ribbons earned at venues like the Santa Fe Indian Market, New Mexico State Fair, Gallup InterTribal Ceremonial and others. At the Santa Fe Indian Market in 1977 she earned the Maria-Popovi Award, a “Special Award for Encouraging a Pottery Renaissance,” from the Southwest Association for Indian Arts.

Evelyn liked to make polychrome and Anasazi Revival and Mimbres Revival black-on-white jars, bowls and animal figures. Among her favorite designs were rain birds, kiva steps, terraced clouds, fine lines and surface corrugation.

The Heard Museum records indicate Evelyn was of mixed Laguna and Sioux heritage but they do not give her parent’s names. Dr. Schaaf indicates her mother was Mariano Cheromiah of Laguna Pueblo but there’s no mention of her father.

Some Awards Evelyn earned

• 2000 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II – Pottery, Division E – Traditional pottery, jars with painted designs on matte or semi-matte surface, Category 1205 – Jars: Third Place
• 1993 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II – Pottery, Division E – Traditional jars, Category 1302 – Jars: Third Place
• 1992 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II – Pottery, Division E – Traditional jars, Category 1302 – Jars: Third Place
• 1991 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II – Pottery, Division E – Traditional jars, Category 1302 – Jars: Second Place
• 1978 Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts & Crafts Exhibit, Classification VII – Pottery, Division A – Traditional: Honorable Mention. Awarded for artwork: Storage jar