Pueblo de Cochiti

Mary E. Quintana-Baca“Parrot”, was born into the Pueblo de Cochiti in 1946.

She is a full blooded Native American Indian. Mary was inspired to continue the long lived tradition of working with clay from her mother. She taught Mary all the fundamentals of working with clay. She has been working with clay art since 1980. The lucrative aspect also provided Mary with incentive to become an artisan.

Mary specializes in handmade storytellers, clay sculptures, and nativity’s. Mary has developed her own unique style of clay art. She uses all traditional handmade methods to make her art, with the exception of her colors.

She paints with brilliant shades of acrylic paint and add a lot of attention to detail on her masterpieces. Mary gathers her own clay and volcanic sand from within the hills that surround her home in the Cochiti Pueblo. She cleans, mixes, hand shapes, paints, and fires her pottery in a kiln. Mary signs her art as: Mary E. Quintana, Cochiti, N.M.

She is related to the following artists: Pablo Quintana (brother), Margaret Quintana (sister-in-law), Olivia Quintana (niece), and Pamela Quintana (niece).

Awards:
-New Mexico State Fair

Publications:
-Southern Pueblo Pottery 2,000 Artist Biographies
-Storytellers and Other Figurative Pottery