Santo Domingo Pueblo

Rafaelita & Darlene Aguilar are full blooded Native American Indians who were born into the Santo Domingo Pueblo. Rafaelita was born in 1937 and Darlene was born in 1960.They are a Mother and Daughter who have teamed up to combine their efforts and creativity to continue a long lived tradition of hand coiling ancient traditional style of black on black pottery.

Rafaelita was inspired to learn the art of working with clay from her mother, Miguelita Aguilar. Miguelita passed down all the fundamentals of working with clay and using ancient methods. Rafaelita in turn shared the knowledge with Darlene. Today they both work together as a team, hand coiling pottery and enjoying each others company.

They specialize in hand coiling the large black on black and red traditional Santo Domingo pottery. The elements used to hand make these wonderful pieces are all provided to them from Mother Earth. The clay is gathered from within the Santo Domingo Pueblo. Then, the clay is soaked, cleaned, mixed, hand coiled, shaped, sanded, painted, and fired outdoors, with straw, bark, and manure. They sign their pottery as: Rafaelita & Darlene Aguilar, S.D. P. They are related to the following artists: Marie C. Aragon (aunt) and Vidal E. Aguilar (cousin).

Awards:
-None to date

Publications:
-Southern Pueblo Pottery 2,000 Artist Biographraphies