Laguna Pueblo

Wendell Kowemy is a full blooded Native American Indian. He was born into the Laguna Pueblo in 1972. He is a member of the Roadrunner Clan.

He was taught all the fundamentals of hand coiling pottery using the ancient traditional methods of his ancestors, under the instruction of Evelyn Cheromiah in 1992. He continues the artform of working with fine pottery to add to the legacy of his people.

Wendell specializes in all natural and traditional hand coiled pottery vessels. He gathers his raw clumps of clay from within the sacred grounds of the Laguna Pueblo. He grinds his clumps of clay into sand like grains and hand mixes sand and water to temper the clay. He begins the hand coiling process which involves rolling out the moist clay into snake like coils and hand building his vessels. Once the vessel has taken form he sets his pottery to dry. Wendell hand boils all of his colors from natural pigments and vegetation which is also harvested from within the Laguna Pueblo. Once the vessels are dry and his colors are boiled Wendell begins hand painting a wide variety of designs which include tularosa swirls, checkerboards, finelines.

The designs he paints are usually designs which were found on old potter sherds left from hundreds of years ago. Finally, he fires his pottery the traditional way, outdoors.

He signs his pottery as: Wendell Kowemy, New Laguna.

He is related to: Kent Kowemy (father), Wendy Cheromiah (mother), Marisa Kowemy, and Aerial (sisters).

Publications:
-Southern Pueblo Pottery 2,000 Artist Biographies
Awards:
-None to date