Main Subjects
Pueblos
Non-Pueblos
Artists
Shapes & Forms
Design Elements
Thomas Tenorio
Santo Domingo Pueblo
Thomas Tenorio
Thomas Tenorio (U-Nah-Thee-Wah) was born in 1963 on Santo Domingo Pueblo. Primarily a self-taught potter, he began making pots in the traditional way in the early 1990s. He told me it took him several years to work out the chemistry of the bee weed plant-based paint and the buff slip, then he learned to protect his pots inside a metal cage when he fired them so no fuel would touch the pots.
These days he likes to just get lost in the process, especially the painting, especially the fish, the birds, the swirls of water, the wind, the corn...
There is an interview with Thomas where he demonstrates how he makes his pottery and talks about what the shapes and designs mean to him. The video was live-streamed in August, 2020.
Some Awards Thomas has Earned:
- Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts & Crafts Fair, First Place Traditional Painted pottery - 2007, 2012
- Santa Fe Indian Market, First and Second Place Traditional Painted Pottery - 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015
Polychrome jar with traditional designs
10 in H by 9.75 in Dia
Polychrome pot with traditional designs
4 in H by 8 in Dia
Polychrome pot with geometric design
5.75 in H by 9 in Dia
Polychrome jar with traditional design
17.75 in H by 12.5 in Dia
Polychrome jar with dot design
7 in H by 7.5 in Dia
Polychrome jar with traditional corn and geometric design
12.5 in H by 12 in Dia
Polychrome jar with geometric design
7.5 in H by 7.25 in Dia
Polychrome jar with bird, floral and geometric design
20.75 in H by 19.75 in Dia
Polychrome jar with geometric design
13 in H by 12.75 in Dia
Polychrome jar with geometric design
17.75 in H by 11.75 in Dia
Polychrome jar with geometric design
12 in H by 11.25 in Dia
Polychrome jar with bird, floral and geometric design
8.5 in H by 8 in Dia
Polychrome jar with a geometric design
14 in H by 12.25 in Dia
Tall jar with a geometric design
15.25 in H by 15 in Dia
Polychrome jar with fish, floral and geometric design
5.25 in H by 9 in Dia
Lidded polychrome jar with fish and geometric design
11 in H by 7 in Dia