![]() In my conversation with Virgil, he mentioned that after the Pueblo Revolt in 1680, Puebloans started making ceramics again. 1878-1881.ĭespite these vicious restrictions forced upon them by the Spanish, the Puebloans resisted. “Indian Pottery,” photograph by Ben Wittick, ca. As a result, there is now a gap in the ceramic record of Cochiti figurative pottery. In an effort to convert the Puebloans to Christianity, the Spanish were fervent in their destruction of these so-called “idols,” and forbid the further creation of figurative pottery. The Spanish saw the figurative pottery as idolatry, and denounced Pueblo religion and culture as witchcraft. This tradition would go on for centuries until the arrival of the Spanish in the sixteenth century. Ceramics in the shape of humans and animals can be dated all the way back to 400 A.D. The Storyteller stems from a centuries-old Cochiti tradition of figurative pottery. This frog Storyteller below was made by Seferina. He learned the tradition from his grandmother, Laurencita, and his mother Seferina, who were both accomplished potters as well. Storytellers were some of the first pottery that Virgil made as a child. Like Virgil described earlier, the Storyteller is a physical representation of an elder telling a story, and the crowding of the curious listeners. ![]() They often depict humans, but many Storytellers depict other forms of life, like frogs and owls. These Storytellers feature a large central figure, with anywhere from one to dozens of children clinging to them. One particularly well-known Cochiti pottery tradition is called the Storyteller, pictured here on the right. ![]() The tradition of oral storytelling transcends into another fundamental aspect of Cochiti culture: pottery. Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College. Once a story is told, that memory and piece of history is kept alive, and not forgotten. If it’s a sort of more formal situation, like if you’re in some of the kivas or the meetings and all, everybody sits down and listens to the person that’s telling, giving advice or telling stories of how it used to be.” For the people of Cochiti, having a spoken language, storytelling has been a critical responsibility and a large part of the Cochiti culture. Every time we get family get-togethers and all, it’s always the elders that are telling the stories. He explained, “It’s always like the grandmothers or grandfathers always telling stories, and it’s just like a daily occurrence. I had a wonderful conversation with Virgil about Cochiti’s storytelling tradition. His Aeronaut costumes are currently on view at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College. Virgil Ortiz with his Aeronauts: characters from his movie script about the 1680 Pueblo revolt. Virgil is our current artist in residence at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, and his brilliant show - Revolution: Rise Against the Invasion - is on display here through May 19, 2019. I was curious about this tradition, and I was lucky enough to have a chance to meet with Virgil Ortiz, a world-renowned potter and multimedia artist from Cochiti, to talk about it. Hence, there is a strong oral tradition of storytelling as means of telling and recording history. Keres is considered a language isolate, meaning it has evolved independently from other languages, and does not descend from any other language. Cochiti is a Keres-speaking Pueblo, and their name in Keres is “ko-tyit.” There are three language families among the Pueblos: Keresan, Tanoan and Zunian, and five language dialects: Zuni, Keres, Tiwa, Towa and Tewa. Each Pueblo is an independent, sovereign nation with its own government, culture, and traditions. Before Spanish colonization and the arrival of white settlers, Pueblo land extended into areas that make up Colorado and Arizona today. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the American Southwest, Cochiti is one of the nineteen indigenous Pueblo tribes, which are located in New Mexico today. ![]() By Amber Mustafic, Museum Intern Map of the Pueblos, todayĬochiti Pueblo is located about twenty miles south of Santa Fe.
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