Trujillo, Leonard

Leonard Trujillo was an adopted son of Fred and Helen Cordero of Cochiti Pueblo. He was born in the 1930s and was exposed to every aspect of the process of making pottery as he was growing up, but he wasn’t really interested until after he married Mary T. Trujillo and she learned how to make pottery from his mother.

Leonard and Mary became active in the marketplace in the 1980s, and while they usually collaborated, in the beginning only Mary signed. They started winning awards (in Mary’s name) for their pottery at the Santa Fe Indian Market in 1984. Leonard began winning awards as soon as he began making and signing his own pottery. That first show was the Santa Fe Indian Market, 1992. That year he won the Best of Division ribbon for Pottery, plus a First Place ribbon and three more Third Place ribbons.

Leonard was known for his polychrome storytellers, bowls and jars, and his bows & arrows. He and Mary made pottery together almost until the day he died. Leonard passed on in 2017, Mary passed on in 2021.