Object Monday: Cat Story Teller

Happy International Museum Week, June 7-14, 2021! This year's theme is Creativity!  What better way to join the celebration with the 60,000 museums around the world celebrating this week than with a storyteller?  

This polychrome ceramic storyteller figurine depicts a large cat storyteller with three kittens. The figurine was made by Emily Fragua Tsosie of Jemez Pueblo. Born in 1951, she learned to make pottery sculptures at a young age from her mother Grace L. Fragua, and her grandmother Emilia Loretto.

Ms. Tsosie specializes in traditional hand-coiled figurines using natural clay and pigments from the Jemez mountains and surrounding areas. She has earned awards at the Santa Fe Indian Market, the Eight Northern Pueblos Arts & Crafts Show, and the Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial. She is known to say “Everything I create is a favorite piece because I created it.”