13 Facts About Helen Cordero

Helen Cordero was a Cochiti Pueblo potter from Cochiti, New Mexico.

Helen Cordero was renowned for her storyteller pottery figurines, a motif she invented, based upon the traditional "singing mother" motif.

Helen Cordero first learned to create leatherwork, then in the 1950s started creating pottery birds and animals that her husband painted.

Helen Cordero recommended figures after the early attempts by Helen at bowls and jars were misshapen.

Helen Cordero "followed a traditional way of life including digging her own clay and preparing her own pigments".

Helen Cordero used three types of clay, all sourced near Cochiti Pueblo, and clay and plant materials for paint.

Over time, Helen Cordero's finish became more refined, and she made her children separately instead of from the primary piece of clay allowing for her to vary their placement around the storyteller.

The Cochiti women potters made figurines of women with children known as "Singing Mother" or Madonna, Helen Cordero transformed this form into her Storyteller design in 1964.

Yet, in a 1981 article, Helen Cordero said she created the first Storyteller on her own in 1964.

Not long after Helen Cordero started her figurines, Gerard asked her to increase her yield and the size of her figures.

Helen Cordero mulled over the idea, and thought of her grandfather, Santiago Quintana, who she remembered as a great storyteller.

Helen Cordero married Fred Cordero, an artist, drum-maker, and governor of Cochiti Pueblo, and they had four children.

Helen Cordero's work is found in the Museum of International Folk Art and the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Museum of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC, the Heard Museum in Phoenix, the Bandelier National Monument museum in Los Alamos Co.