Aguilar Family facts for kids
The Aguilar Family is a group of Native American potters from Kewa Pueblo (which used to be called Santo Domingo Pueblo) in New Mexico, United States. This talented family included two sisters, Felipita Aguilar Garcia and Asuncion Aguilar Cate, along with their sister-in-law, Mrs. Ramos Aguilar. Together, their beautiful pottery became known as Aguilar pottery, and sometimes people called them the Aguilar Sisters.
History of Aguilar Pottery
In the early 1900s, the art of making pottery at Santo Domingo Pueblo was slowly fading away. By 1910, a man named Julius Seligman, who worked nearby, noticed that pottery sales were dropping. He suggested that the two sisters, Felipita Aguilar Garcia and Asuncion Aguilar Cate, and their sister-in-law, Mrs. Ramos Aguilar, try to bring this important art back to life.
The three women worked together, creating pottery that soon became famous as "Aguilar pottery."
Unique Pottery Styles
The Aguilar sisters made traditional ollas (jars), bowls, and dough bowls. They used a style called "polychrome," which means "many colors." They are best known for a bold, geometric design. This design used black paint on a creamy white background, or black and red on cream. Their patterns often covered almost the entire cream surface.
This was quite special because most Santo Domingo pottery usually left some areas unpainted. The Aguilar sisters' unique style became known as "negative boldface" or "reverse-painted Aguilar pottery." They also made other traditional Santo Domingo pottery, using black on cream or black on red designs.
Legacy and Revival
The Aguilar sisters stopped making pottery around 1915. However, their special style is now making a comeback! One of Kewa Pueblo's leading potters today, Robert Tenorio, has brought the Aguilar polychrome style back to life.
You can find the pottery made by the Aguilar family, both their group work and individual pieces, in many museum collections. These include the Brooklyn Museum, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and the Denver Art Museum, among others.
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