Arquero, Juanita

Juanita Cordero Arquero was born into Cochiti Pueblo around 1906. She was the daughter of Lorenza Cordero, Santiago Cordero’s first wife. Among her siblings were Ramona Cordero, Eluterio Cordero and Fred Cordero, who became the husband of Helen (Quintana) Cordero, who later innovated the first storyteller figures.

Juanita learned how to make pottery early in life and made polychrome jars, bowls and figures. After Helen married her brother Fred, Juanita taught her how to make pots. But Helen was never happy with how her pots turned out so she turned to making figures.

For a while, Juanita and Helen were working together teaching a class in pottery making at a school in the town of Bernalillo. One day one of their students asked a question about historic Cochiti figures and that’s what lit the spark that led Helen to create the first storyteller.

Felecita Eustace was a younger student of Juanita’s, young enough to be her daughter. With Juanita’s help, Felecita also became one of Cochiti’s premier figure makers.

There’s a record of Juanita attending the Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts and Crafts Exhibit in 1969 and winning an Honorable Mention ribbon for a piece of traditional pottery she entered for the judges to consider. That seems to be the only big show she ever entered.