Herrera, Frances

Mary Frances Herrera (1935-1991) was the daughter of Nestor and Laurencita Herrera of Cochiti Pueblo. She learned how to make pottery early in life and was active in the marketplace as a teenager. Her older sister was Seferina Ortiz. Seferina had also been active in the marketplace as a teenager.

Mary Frances made traditional Cochiti polychrome jars and bowls for half her career. It was in 1968 that she made her first storyteller figure, then in the 1980s she branched into miniatures. She’s most known now for her storyteller miniatures. She was making pottery almost until the day she passed on.

The first-ever Storytellers Exhibit in Albuquerque in 1979 listed her as one of the first five makers of storytellers, except they listed her as “Francis Herrera.”