Seferina Ortiz (1931-2007) Pueblo, Cochiti Applique Figural Storyteller Sculpture. A large matronly seated figure with 8 children holding onto her. Signed on the underside. 

Condition: Girl second from the right is broken. 

Size: 6 1/2 x 8 x 10 in. 

Seferina Ortiz was born on the Cochiti Pueblo in 1931, and learned to make pottery from her mother, Laurencita Herrera, before developing an innovative applique method of her own by adding raised figures to her pots and canteens. She is one of the most revered figures in Cochiti pottery-making, creating both storyteller figures and traditional vessels and becoming the matriarch of a family of innovative potters including Virgil Ortiz, Janice Ortiz, and Lisa Holt. Seferina won numerous awards for her pottery at events such as Santa Fe Indian Market, and her pieces are now held at numerous public and private collections, including in the Denver Art Museum and Peabody Museum of Harvard University. A key figure in the 1970s revival of figurative pottery and animal figurines, she passed away in 2007, with her pieces now considered highly collectible. 

Girl second from the right is broken. 

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