Cochiti Pottery

Cochiti Pottery

Twenty five miles south of Santa Fe is the pueblo of Cochiti. Here the potters work mostly in the black on cream style and are known for making a wide variety of forms. Most Cochiti designs center on cloud and rain motifs as well as floral abstractions but what really distinguishes Cochiti from the other Rio Grande pueblos is there figural forms. Even before Helen Cordero made the first storyteller Cochiti potters were molding canteens with appliqué lizards and during the 1880’s they made incredible standing human figures based on the side show and carnival characters of their time. Today at Cochiti there are some of the most recognizable names in Pueblo pottery, like Diego Romero and Virgil Ortiz.