Cordero, Helen

Cochiti Pueblo potter Helen Cordero
“I don’t know why people go for my work the way they do. Maybe it’s because to me they aren’t just pretty things that I make for money. All my potteries come out of my heart. They’re my little people. I talk to them and they’re singing. If you’re listening, you can hear them.” – Helen Cordero, from The Pueblo Storyteller (1986)

Helen Cordero (1915-1994) was a potter from Cochiti Pueblo who became famous for her “storyteller” figures. Earlier in life, Helen had tried her hand at beadwork and leather-working but nearly all the money she made selling her works went into purchasing supplies to keep going. Then her husband’s aunt suggested she try making pottery.

It was a time when pottery making had almost died out at Cochiti but her cousin had learned the ancient ways as a child and Helen worked with her for six months learning the process and getting good at it. However, she was trying to make pots, bowls and jars but nothing ever came out quite right. Seeing she was frustrated, her cousin suggested she make figurines like many Cochiti pottery makers had been producing years before.

It was like Helen had found her true calling as she spent several years making countless little figures of animals, birds and people (male and female figures eight to nine inches tall). In 1960, Helen displayed some of her figures at Santo Domingo Pueblo Feast Day and attracted the attention of Alexander Girard, a well-known folk art collector. He bought everything she had and encouraged her to make more. He also asked that she make them larger and he soon commissioned a 250-piece nativity set from her. Shortly after that, he asked her to make a large seated figure surrounded by many children, a situation similar to many of the “Singing Mothers” made by other Cochiti potters.

The pueblos had a long tradition of Singing Mother figurines but Helen took that motif a step further: in honor of her grandfather (a tribal storyteller who knew many stories of the Cochiti oral history) she built a seated male figure eight inches high with five children perched on it. It quickly became known as a “storyteller.” The fact the figure was male and had children figures perched on it changed Pueblo pottery history and started a new tradition. That was in 1964.

The idea caught on quickly among nearly all the pueblo pottery makers and shortly, each pueblo had developed its own version of the storyteller complete with local dress, designs and added configurations. Helen’s intent was that storyteller figures be male (and she never made a female storyteller) while Singing Mothers were always female. That line has been blurred in that virtually all similar “contexts” are called storytellers. And “context” is the word because there are now many figurines that are presented as animal or bird storytellers…

When Helen displayed her storytellers at the New Mexico State Fair in 1964, she walked away with First, Second and Third Place ribbons. In 1965 she earned the First, Second and Third Place ribbons at the Santa Fe Indian Market. Her career was off and running and when she did her first one-person show in Scottsdale, AZ in 1973, it was sold out before the show opened.

In 1985 Helen was honored as a Santa Fe Living Treasure. In 1982 she became a National Heritage Fellow.

Some Exhibits that featured Helen’s work

  • Gifted! Recent Additions to the Heard Collection. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. December 2015
  • Choices and Change: American Indian Artists in the Southwest. Heard Museum North. Scottsdale, AZ. July 2007
  • Home: Native Peoples in the Southwest. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. May 2005
  • The Collecting Passions of Dennis and Janis Lyon. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. May 1, 2004 – September 1, 2004
  • Masterworks by Native Peoples of the Southwest. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. June 21, 2003 – 2005
  • Images, Artists, Styles: Recent Acquisitions from the Heard Museum Collection. Heard Museum North, Scottsdale, AZ. July 2001 – January 2002
  • Lovena Ohl: An Eye for Art, A Heart for Artists. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. January 15, 2000
  • The Legacy of Generations: Pottery by American Indian Women. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. February 14, 1998 – March 17, 1998
  • Recent Acquisitions from the Herman and Claire Bloom Collection. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. January 11, 1997 – July 1, 1997
  • American Indian Art Magazine 20th Anniversary Benefit. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. August 1995 – March 1996
  • Dancing Across Time: Indian Images of the Southwest. American Contemporary Arts. San Francisco, CA. July 7, 1995 – September 23, 1995
  • Timeless Impressions. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. November 1994 – March 1995
  • Watchful Eyes: Native American Women Artists. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. November 1, 1994 – October 1995
  • 2000 Years of Contemporary New Mexico Ceramics. Johnson Gallery, University of New Mexico. Albuquerque, NM. January 29, 1991 – March 15, 1991
  • The Galbraith Collection of Native American Art. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. October 15, 1988 – May 7, 1989
  • American Indian Art, The Collecting Experience. Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin. Madison, WI. May 7, 1988 – July 3, 1988
  • Native Peoples of the Southwest. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. 1985 – May 2003
  • Larry Golsh, Helen Cordero. Lovena Ohl Gallery. Scottsdale, AZ. December 1985
  • Helen Cordero, James Little. Lovena Ohl Gallery. Scottsdale, AZ. November 1983
  • Tales for All Seasons. Wheelwright Museum. Santa Fe, NM. 1982
  • Cochiti Pueblo Storyteller. Adobe Gallery. Albuquerque, NM. 1982
  • American Indian Art in the 1980s. The Native American Center for the Living Arts. Niagara Falls, NY. 1981
  • Helen Cordero. Gallery 10. Scottsdale, AZ. February 29, 1980 – March 13, 1980
  • The Santa Fe Indian Market in Perspective. Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian. Santa Fe, New Mexico. August 1979 – September 24, 1979
  • Clay. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. December 15, 1978
    Exhibition. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. September 11, 1976 – October 19, 1976
  • Woman’s Work. The Hand and The Spirit Crafts Gallery. Scottsdale, AZ. 1975
  • World Craft Council Exhibition. Toronto, Canada. 1974
    One Woman Show. The Hand and the Spirit Gallery. Scottsdale, AZ. 1973
  • Helen Cordero and Her Little People. The Hand and The Spirit Crafts Gallery. Scottsdale, AZ. May 1973 – June 1973

Some Awards earned by Helen

  • Timeless Impression Award. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. November 1994
  • Governor’s Award for Excellence and Achievement in the Arts Santa Fe, NM. 1982
  • National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship. Washington, DC. 1982
  • 12th Annual Scottsdale National Indian Arts Exhibition. Safari Hotel Convention Center. Scottsdale, AZ. Section C-Crafts. Classification VIII-Pottery. Division B-Adaptations. Honorable Mention, 1974
  • 1971 Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts and Crafts Exhibit. Div. C., ceramic sculpture. First Place and Second Place.
    – Cochiti large storyteller. Third Place
  • 1969 Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts and Crafts Exhibit. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. Class., pottery; Div. B. other objects. First Place and Second Place

Photo of Helen Cordero is in the public domain.

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