The Pottery of the San Ildefonso
Beyond the fact that San Ildefonso Pueblo lies Northwest of Santa Fe in the[map of San Ildefonso] center of Tewa country, its name is synonomous with the pottery of Maria Martinez. Her innovative discovery of matte black (where husband Julian had painted) on polished black (where Maria's carefully rubbed slip still showed) pottery became so popular that the drought ridden, isolated, overlogged, and influenza- desicated pueblo was stabilized by its growing market attention, and carried many of the surrounding pueblos with them.