Latoma, Joseph

Joseph Latoma was born into San Felipe Pueblo in May 1966. He is the son of Margaret Chavez of San Felipe and Joe Latoma of Zuni Pueblo. He was exposed to a lot of silversmithing as he grew up and he still does that. Joseph indicated to Dr. Greg Schaaf that he learned to make pottery from his great-grandfather. Later he said he learned through eight years of trial and error.

Joseph likes to make traditional artifacts, tools and jars. Some of his jars are more than 12 inches high and more than 15 inches in diameter.

There is little documented pre-contact San Felipe pottery so Joseph had to develop his own style. He says he based his designs on the memories of San Felipe and Zuni elders.