Vigil, Minnie

The first child of Petra Montoya of Pojoaque Pueblo and Juan Gutierrez of Santa Clara Pueblo, Maria D. Minnie Vigil was born in 1931. The older sister of Gloria (Goldenrod) Garcia, Thelma Talachy and Lois Gutierrez de la Cruz, Minnie grew up learning the fundamentals of the traditional way of making pottery from their mother. She began making pottery for the marketplace in 1955. Minnie was an exhibitor at Santa Fe Indian Market from 1975 to 1998.  She earned her first of several blue ribbons there in 1975.

Minnie specialized in polychrome wares, some slipped in red clay and stone polished, some slipped in matte cream clay and not polished. Her favorite designs included rainbows, rain clouds, bear paws and sky bands. She made a lot of miniature polychrome seed pots.

Minnie typically signed her pieces as “Minnie, Santa Clara” although she was also sometimes classified as a Pojoaque potter.