Chino, Marie Z

Marie Zieu Chino (1907-1982) was one of the Matriarchs of Acoma Pueblo pottery. Marie and her friends Lucy M. Lewis and Jessie Garcia are recognized as the three most important Acoma potters during the 1950s.

Together the three friends led the revival of ancient pottery forms and designs from the Tularosa, Mimbres, Anasazi and other ancient cultures from the region in central New Mexico. This revival spread among other Acoma potters who also allowed the old styles to lead them to innovative designs and new variations of style and form.

Marie and Lucy were friends but they were also competitors. Occasionally they copied each other’s designs. According to Betty Toulouse in her 1977 book, Pueblo Pottery of the New Mexico Indians, Lucy didn’t start making black-on-white jars with fine line hatching based on ancient designs until several years after Marie first did.

The inspirations for many of the designs used on their pottery were found on old pot sherds that had been gathered to use to make temper in their clay mixture. There are stories from the 1930s, too, about a cave filled with prehistoric pottery that had been kept hidden for generations. Those who knew of it only visited when they wanted to learn new designs. It is said that it is from that treasure trove that the Tularosa spiral made its reemergence in modern times.

Marie became particularly well known for her amazingly uniform fine-line designs in black-on-white hand-coiled pottery. Her pots were distinctive in their complex geometric designs as well as the combination of life forms and abstract symbols. Some of her favorite designs included animals, spirals, kiva steps, parrots, rainbows, berries, leaves, rain, clouds, lightning bolts and fine line snowflakes.

Marie was the daughter of Santiago and Lueppe Tsieyounow. Among her siblings were Francisco (Frank White), Leuppe Santana, Pablita S., Helen (Patricio), Juanico Santiago and Santana Zieu Sanchez (Chino). Marie’s husband was Lorenzo Chino.

As the head of the Chino family of potters, Marie mentored her family in the finer aspects of the ancient art of pottery making. She also worked with many students from outside her family. Her children and grandchildren are numerous and include daughters Grace Chino, Rose Chino Garcia and Carrie Chino Charlie.

Marie Z. Chino’s pottery can be found in the book, “14 Families in Pueblo Pottery” along with numerous other publications.

In 1922, Marie won her first ribbon at the Santa Fe Indian Market. She was only fifteen. She didn’t participate in Indian Market again for years, then went on to receive numerous awards in Santa Fe for her pottery from 1970-1982. In 1998 the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts recognized Marie with a “Lifetime Achievement Award.”