Maria Montoya Martinez: Master Potter

By Elsie Karr Kreischer

At age ten, Mar 1/2a Montoya
Mart 1/2nez was stricken with smallpox. Near death, she lay limply in her
mother's arms, unable even to swallow the herbal teas offered her. All the
attempts to revive her seemed to have failed. Trying one last remedy, her aunt
and mother filled the hearth with thick green cedar boughs and smoked the room,
waving the fumes towards the sick little girl. Mar 1/2a's mother
desperately prayed to Santo Ni 1/2o, the children's saint, promising that
if Mar 1/2a lived, she would send her on a pilgrimage to see him.
Mar 1/2a lived to make the pilgrimage and enjoy a long life. But she was
forever marked by this event.
Mar 1/2a's pilgrimage to the Santuario in Chimayo, New Mexico, becomes a
symbol of her life. It is a journey towards humility, hard work, and
perfection. She feels special since she was favored to live. And so she
constantly strives to create the most worthy pots she can, always keeping in
mind Old Grandmother's prowess with clay. The clay connects her to the earth,
and the clay links her to her future husband, Juli 1/2n, who becomes a
painter of her pots. Throughout the years, she is blessed and blesses her whole
pueblo with money and, more importantly, love.
Mar 1/2a Montoya Mart 1/2nez: Master Potter is the
biography of a very sick little girl who grew to be a strong and talented
woman. She won many awards through the years for her pottery, so many that some
of them were lost. This story beautifully depicts her exemplary life. She
represented her people and her art well.
Elsie Karr Kreischer was a personal friend of Mar 1/2a Montoya
Mart 1/2nez. A writer based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, she is also the
author of The Navaho Magic of Hunting, which won the 1992
National League of American Pen Women Children's Book Award.
Roberta Sinnock is the owner of Seven Oaks Studio, a 20-year-old company
that specializes in book design and illustration. She earned her B.F.A. from
Arizona State University with a specialty in graphic design and currently
resides in Tucson, Arizona.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1565540980
• ISBN13: 9781565540989
• Release Date: August 1995
• Publisher: Pelican Publishing Company
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.2" x 9.2"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

The Rewards of Perseverance

This is a delightful book. Maria is a pueblo Indian girl born at the end of the 19th Century. After recovering from a near fatal bout of smallpox her family takes her on a pilgrimage to thank Santo Nino. It is no small thing for a 10-11yr old girl to walk the ten miles necessary for completion of this task. The theme of the earth and how it draws her to love the art of pottery-making hangs in the backdrop of her life story. She marries, is a sensation at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, and through the decades is sought out by hundreds (thousands?) who have heard of her work. She is even known to the first ladies of several United States administrations. I hesitate to tell any more as this is such a pleasant read and it is best not to spoil its' beauty. I recommend the book for grades 3-8 and it would make a nice read-aloud even at the kindergarten or first grade level if you have an attentive listener. The art work consists of B/W drawings which are a good adjunct to the story but truly only four star work. They are not of the same caliber as the story. I bought the book used since it was a gamble at the time. However, it is a book I would not hesitate to gift in the future and is an excellent resource for grade-school studies of American Indians. I would hope that the importance of Maria's religious faith in the first part of the book would not deter anyone from learning about her long and illustrious career and success in the Native American Indian art of pottery. I found her story inspiring.