Raton, Rachel Medina

“My pottery has a story to tell of my lineage, the history of my ancestors and a story of where I have come from and where I am now in life. Every pot I create has a piece of my heart, I give it life. I have not yet come full circle in the pottery making. I am just truly evolving.”

Rachel Medina was born into Zia Pueblo in 1961, the daughter of Sofia and Rafael Medina and sister of Marcellus, Samuel, Edna, Herman, Lois and Fred. She grew up in a pottery-making household but she didn’t really get into making pottery herself until after she earned her nursing degree at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales.

In her early 30s Rachel started to get into making pottery with her mother teaching her. Then she married Bernard Raton and moved to his home at Santa Ana Pueblo.

Bernard is the grandson of Eudora Montoya and Rachel learned about Santa Ana clays and designs from her. Eudora also told her to use designs from both Zia and Santa Ana. However, as she is now an enrolled member of Santa Ana Pueblo, Rachel lost the right to use the specifically Zia roadrunner. So she developed her own geometric bird that she calls “the swan.” She paints it on almost every piece she makes. Eudora also taught her that Santa Ana designs prefer a lot of white space around them.