Cordero, George

George Cordero (1944-1990) was the son of Helen Cordero and Fred Cordero of Cochiti Pueblo. He was an active potter from the 1970s to 1990. Like his sister, Toni Suina, George learned how to make pottery by watching and working with their mother.

Helen was not satisfied with her pottery career at first, then she made her first storyteller figure in 1964. It was like a light bulb lit up in her heart and she instantly knew what she was meant to do. George was 20 then. A couple years later he got interested in what she was doing and began to work with her.

George, too, first started making polychrome jars and bowls, then learned to make storytellers in the early 1980s. He also made turtles, drummers and other figures. He often collaborated with his mother. His work and hers so closely resembled each others the only way to tell them apart was to turn them over and look at the signature.

George and Helen passed their skills on to his daughter, Buffy Cordero, and she became an excellent potter in her own right.

Some Exhibits that have featured works by George

• Gifts from the Community. Heard Museum West. Surprise, AZ. April 12, 2008 to October 12, 2008
• Passionate Involvement: Recent Acquisitions of the Heard Museum. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. March 1, 2001 to October 1, 2001