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Maria Martinez was a Native American potter from the Pueblo of San Ildefonso in New Mexico. She is widely considered to be one of the greatest traditional Native American potters of the 20th century. Maria learned the art of pottery making from her mother, who was also a skilled potter. She was known for her unique style of black-on-black pottery, which involved coating the pottery with a glossy, black slip and then burnishing it to a smooth finish. She worked with her husband, Julian Martinez, to perfect this technique and their work was widely celebrated.
Maria became a respected leader in the Native American art community and her work has been widely exhibited and collected by museums and institutions around the world. Today, she is remembered as an important figure in the preservation of traditional Native American art forms.
The history and culture of the Southwest Pueblo Native Americans is integrated with the introduction of master potter, Maria Martinez. The steps in making pottery are explored in preparation for the students to shape and decorate their own pottery. Be sure to click through the student masterpieces at the top of this page.
I had a parent stop me in the halls and express how much her children loved the curriculum. She was overjoyed that formal art education was included in our school day and that it was a curriculum that challenged the older elementary students, and was able to be done by the younger ones as well. She had a first and fourth grader at the time. I also had an aide who was in the classroom with me while I was teaching tell me how much she loved that art history portion of the curriculum. She said that she wasn’t much of an artist, and as a kid she dreaded craft time, but that the inclusion of the art history would have made all the difference to her as a child. I have students who have complained about going to a good behavior activity (which are always super fun!) because it meant she would have to miss art that week!
Buy a track of 7 artists and teach all year long.
*Art supplies and teacher/volunteer training DVDs can be added to your order.
