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.
Further reading
*Barry, John - American Indian Pottery. 1984.
*Schaaf, Gregory - Pueblo Indian Pottery: 750 Artist Biographies. 2000.
*Trimble, Stephen - Talking with the Clay: The Art of Pueblo Pottery. 1987.
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