Trujillo, Felipa

Felipa Herrera Trujillo was born into Cochiti Pueblo in April 1908. Her parents were Juan and Estefanita Arquero Herrera. Ada Suina was her niece through blood, Helen Cordero was her niece through marriage.

Felipa was educated at the St. Catherine’s Indian School in Santa Fe. After graduating, she married Paul Trujillo and they had six children.

Felipa grew up helping her mother make pottery. They made polychrome jars and bowls, many with lizard spouts, until her mother died around 1960. Then Felipa expanded into making figures and started signing her own name to her pieces.

Before there were storytellers, pueblo potters were making Singing Mothers. There is one Singing Mother that has been dated to pre-1930 and it has been attributed to Felipa. That would make her one of the earliest of the modern era Cochiti potters.

In 1969 Felipa got her first commission to make a nativity set. She started out by painting Spanish colonial dress on the figures. Then she changed to forming and painting Indian dress on them.

Felipa’s work can be found in many collections and museums, including the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC. The Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe put on an exhibit entitled “What is Folk Art?” in 1973. Felipa was one of seven Cochiti potters whose storytellers and other figures were part of that exhibit.

Felipa participated in the Santa Fe Indian Market and the New Mexico State Fair, earning ribbons at both for her storytellers and other figures. She passed on in 1986.