Vintage 1979 Acoma Storyteller 6.5” High by Pottery Matriarch Frances Torivio For Sale

Vintage 1979 Acoma Storyteller 6.5” High by Pottery Matriarch Frances Torivio

We obtained our Acoma Pueblo Storyteller from Frances Torivio (1905-2001),(aka Sra-Ma-Tyai or Singing Child), one of Acoma’s major matriarch potters, in 1979. Frances used only local clays in her pottery and used a traditional outdoor pit for firing. This charming storytellerdepicts a seated mother with five children, an infant in a cradleboard, and is decorated with vegetal paints - classic orange and black on creamy white. The mother has her hair tied in a chonga and she wears 2 necklaces. Frances led the effort to revive traditional Acoma pottery many decades ago, and she was probably the first Acoma potter to make storytellers. Our45-year-old storyteller is in fine condition without chips or cracks. The colors have faded a bit over time.Her striking pottery is in the collections of the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian, The Art Institute of Chicago,Museum of Northern Arizona, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, University of San Diego Museum, The Heard Museum,The School for Advanced Research,Stanley Museum of Art, Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, and many other museums. Frances has won many awards includingribbons at the Santa Fe Indian Market in 1976, 1978, 1980, 1983, 1992, and 1994, where she showedher pottery up until she was 96 years old. This Storyteller is a fine example of Frances’s prized work.Her pottery is valued around the world and will be a great addition to any Acoma pottery collection or storyteller collection.We are selling our home and moving into a small retirement apartment, so we don’t have room for our collected treasures. The Storyteller is signed inside the bottom opening: “Frances Torivio Acoma N.M.”

6.5 in high

5.5 in at base