Aguilar, Robert

Robert Aguilar was born into Santo Domingo Pueblo at the end of May, 1968. His parents are Joe & Helen Aguilar, his maternal grandmother Lorencita Pacheco. Among his siblings are Shirley, Vidal and Darrin Aguilar. Rafaelita Aguilar is their aunt and influenced all of them as they were learning how to make pottery.

Robert was interested in working with clay early, making polychrome dough bowls, jars and vases as a teenager. Like many in the Aguilar family, he usually makes large pieces, and usually decorates them with designs incorporating deer, antelope, bighorn sheep, flowers, clouds and birds. He also sometimes decorates in the Aguilar style (negative designs with a solid black background), passed down to him by his aunt, Rafaelita. The Aguilar style was innovated by Felipita Aguilar Garcia and Asuncion Aguilar Cate of Santo Domingo back in the 1890s.