Gladys Paquin

Laguna Pueblo

Gladys Paquin

Gladys Paquin was born at Laguna Pueblo to a Laguna mother and Zuni father. She lived at Laguna until the age of 9 when she moved to the home of her stepmother, Clara Paquin, at Santa Ana Pueblo. It was at Santa Ana where she was given the name Sratyu'we which appears in the signature she uses on her pottery.

After high school Gladys married and lived with her husband, Andy Padilla, at his home at Santa Clara Pueblo for a while before they moved to California. While in California she had two children, both of whom took up pottery before she did (they learned while spending summers at Santa Clara with their paternal grandmother).

After 23 years in California, Gladys returned to Laguna Pueblo on her own and searched out a new path in life. In 1980 it led to making pottery at Laguna. She learned the traditional methods of the potter's art and worked with them the rest of her life, earning many awards for her traditional styles and designs along the way. She used primarily Laguna designs but now and then produced something with both Laguna and Zuni elements in it.

Gladys passed on in December, 2020. I met Gladys several times over the years and always found her a fount of knowledge and a joy to talk with. It further saddened me when I learned her son, Andrew Padilla, couldn't get over her passing and died himself in August 2021.