Allen, Tammie

“If we’ll always remember that life is a continual cycle with positive and negative experiences for every human being then we can understand and accept life easier.”

Tammie Allen was born into the Jicarilla Apache Nation in July 1964. She grew up on a ranch among the scattered oil and gas wells on the southern end of the Jicarilla Apache Reservation in northern New Mexico. She attended school in Gallina and after graduation, went to the University of Albuquerque, then to the College of Santa Fe. It was there that she began to learn about clay from Betty Colbert.

With her interest piqued, she learned everything she could from various Hispanic and Native American potters working with various local New Mexico clays. In the end she said her best teacher was Clay Mother herself.

Tammy specializes in making traditional and contemporary Jicarilla Apache micaceous jars, bowls, pitchers and figures. She’s participated in the Santa Fe Indian Market for years, earning multiple ribbons in the Micaceous Pottery division.

A trademark on virtually every piece Tammie has ever made is the “V” type lip. To her, “the bottom of the V represents the negative part of the human experience while the top of the V represents the positive upswing. So if we’ll always remember that life is a continual cycle with positive and negative experiences for every human being then we can understand and accept life easier.”