Old friends are special, especially when you haven’t seen them for a while. I had not heard from Bonnie Fragua for a couple of years, which I guess is true of a lot of our Native acquaintances.

The Nambé people made traditional pottery until the middle of the 20th century when it came close to dying out. Lonnie Vigil did not start out to revive the pottery arts of his village, in fact, he did his best to get away from the traditional life of the Pueblos.

Some people have a sense of humor, some don’t. I’ve always found that it was a lot more fun hanging around with someone that did. A person I’d like to spend time with is Cochiti Pueblo potter Martha Arquero. Almost all her work captures the funny bone of the human spirit.

The Bear is important to the Tewa people. When the Tewa left Chaco Canyon on their trek to the Rio Grande, they were out of water. They found the tracks of a bear and followed them to a stream that comes into the area where Santa Clara now stands. They could hear the water before they saw it, and they named the stream, translated into English, "Singing Water.”

Elizabeth Medina was born in Jemez in 1956 and later married Marcellus Medina and moved to his pueblo of Zia.  We just received a new collection of these pieces.

In 2011, near the end of the Mayan Calendar, I ran into Lawrence Namoki while pumping gas into my car in Tuba City where the road intersects to take visitors south to the Hopi Mesa.

Blue Corn knew and learned much from Maria Martinez and her family. In fact, Maria’s sister gave Blue Corn her name during her San Ildefonso “naming ceremony”.

People have lived in the Pueblo of Acoma for over 2000 years. Set on a mesa of sandstone, it is referred to as “Sky City” and is the oldest continuously inhabited community in North America. It is situated 60 miles west of Albuquerque just south of I-40.

Today I’d like to introduce you to the pottery Dean Haungooah (b. 1972.) I believe that he is one of the most talented and least known Pueblo potters. His family name in Kiowa translates to “Sunlight reflecting off Buffalo Horns.”

The Anasazi, or “Ancestral Puebloans” as contemporary anthropologists refer to them created pottery for utilitarian uses beginning about 200 A.D. They cooked in it, stored food in it, ate and drank from it. And, as anyone who has spent much time looking at the pottery from Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon or any of the early living sites of the early inhabitants knows, they spent an inordinate amount of time and effort decorating these vessels with beautiful designs.

Years ago, my sister published a print from a painting by Western artist Jim Rey that depicted early explorers, with their horses, staring down at Cliff Palace. Richard Wetherill, an area cowboy, is widely credited with having “discovered” the ruins, but likely, early explorers beat him to it. He was the first to realize the archaeological importance of the find.

In New Mexico, Nativity Sets, Creche or manger scenes made by Pueblo Indians depicting the birth of Christ, are commonly known as Nacimientos. That is because of the predominantly Hispanic culture in the area and the fact that the Christianization of the Pueblo people was a result of the Spanish settlers. It’s not a real pretty story, but as times evolved, the Catholic faith has become intermingled with the lives of the Pueblo people.