Leonidas Tapia (?-1977) was a

Puebloan The Puebloans or Pueblo peoples, are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Currently 100 pueblos are actively inhabited, among which Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Zu ...

potter from

Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico Ohkay Owingeh (Tewa: Ohkwee Ówîngeh ), known by its Spanish name as San Juan de los Caballeros from 1589 to 2005, is a pueblo and census-designated place (CDP) in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico. Ohkay Owingeh is also a federally recognized tribe ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Biography

She was the wife of Jose Blas Tapia and mother of

Mary Trujillo Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

(born 1937) and Tom Tapia (b. 1946). Leonidas made traditional San Juan polychrome redware bowls, jars and wedding vases. She also made micaceous pottery. Some of the designs she used on her pottery include the water serpent,

kiva A kiva is a space used by Puebloans for rites and political meetings, many of them associated with the kachina belief system. Among the modern Hopi and most other Pueblo peoples, "kiva" means a large room that is circular and underground, ...

steps and clouds. Leonidas participated in the

Santa Fe Indian Market The Santa Fe Indian Market is an annual art market held in Santa Fe, New Mexico on the weekend following the third Thursday in August. The event draws an estimated 150,000 people to the city from around the world. The Southwestern Association for ...

from 1970-1976. Tapia’s son, Tom Tapia, learned to make pottery by working with his mother. He works in the

sgraffito ''Sgraffito'' (; plural: ''sgraffiti'') is a technique either of wall decor, produced by applying layers of plaster tinted in contrasting colours to a moistened surface, or in pottery, by applying to an unfired ceramic body two successive laye ...

style and has won numerous awards for his pottery. He also makes pottery with his wife Sue Tapia. Tapia’s daughter, Mary Trujillo, married

Helen Cordero Helen Cordero (June 15, 1915 – July 24, 1994) was a Cochiti Pueblo potter from Cochiti, New Mexico. She was renowned for her storyteller pottery figurines, a motif she invented, based upon the traditional "singing mother" motif. Early work ...

’s son, Leonard, from

Cochiti Pueblo Cochiti (; Eastern Keresan: Kotyit ʰocʰi̥tʰ– "Forgotten", Navajo: ''Tǫ́ʼgaaʼ'') is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sandoval County, New Mexico, United States. A historic pueblo of the Cochiti people, it is part of the Albuquerque Met ...

. She learned to make storyteller figures from her mother-in-law Helen who was the first and most famous maker of Cochiti storytellers and has won numerous awards.

External links

Pottery by Leonidas Tapia at the Holmes Museum of Anthropology

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tapia, Leonidas 1977 deaths American women ceramists American ceramists Artists from New Mexico Native American potters Pueblo people 20th-century American women artists Native American women artists Women potters People from Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico 20th-century ceramists 20th-century Native Americans 1937 births 20th-century Native American women

Biography

Further reading

External links

References