The invention of the storyteller form is considered to be Helen Cordero of the Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico, though the tradition of figurative pottery predates Helen by many centuries. Figurative pottery in the Southwest has been dated to perhaps as early 300 B.C. and certainly as early as 400 A.D. among the Anasazi, the predecessors of today's Pueblo Indians. Discouraged and repressed as idolatrous by European clergy seeking to convert the native Americans, figurative pottery from the period of colonialism is rare, nearly to the point of non-existence, if not for an underground pattern of secrecy maintained in the pueblos.

With the arrival of tourists by railroad the art began to reemerge late in the nineteenth century. Much of this manufactured pottery was centered in the Cochiti pueblo and consisted of likenesses of padres, cowboys, businessmen and tourists. It was into this potting tradition that Helen Cordero made the innovation which would prove to be a milestone in figurative pottery. Instead of the traditional female "Singing Mother" figure, she modelled one after her grandfather, Santiago Quintana, his mouth open and five children clinging to him. It was an endearing figure and the public was captivated. The form she began has now taken on a life of its own with more and more artists making storytellers, at Cochiti, the surrounding pueblos, and from other peoples like the Navajo, Blackfoot, and Hispanic. Even the word "storyteller" has come to represent not only male figures, but females, clowns, mudheads, frogs, owls, turtles, coyotes, almost any figure that has an adult surrounded by or covered with children.

We have some splendid storytellers by well known artists to tease the serious collectors, along with occasional figurative pieces that we feel are worth consideration because they are unusual or created only occasionally by a top artisan. Browse through our current offerings and don't neglect our miniatures collection which has some nice storyteller pieces.

SEE OUR COLLECTION OF STORYTELLERS AND FIGURATIVE POTTERY PIECES.