Delores Juanico

Delores Juanico

Delores Juanico is an award-winning traditional Acoma pueblo potter. She was taught pottery by her grandmother Delores Sanchez and her mother Marie Juanico. Delores specializes in miniature versions of 19th century potteries and includes a date on the bottom that refers to the estimated date of creation of the original. Her pots are remarkably thin and light and beautifully painted. In 2016 and 2017 she won major awards at both Santa Fe’s Indian Market and the Heard Museum Indian Fair. In her own words:

“I started as a child as most do while both of them [mother and grandmother] would make, I would watch them. As they felt I was ready they would give me clay to make animals and bowls and plates. The process of clay and paint is sometimes a family thing so I was always a part of that which is how I learned firsthand. In the summers my grandparents would take us one weekend to turnover cow manure to dry and the next weekend to pick up what we turned [for firing].