Helen Cordero is undoubtedly one of the great names in Cochiti pottery.  It was in 1964 that Cordero said she made her first storyteller.  According to her, “I made some more of my Storytellers with lots of children climbing on him to listen, then I took them up to the Santo Domingo Feast Day,” and the rest is history.  Her pieces were all males, to honor her grandfather, whom she would hear telling children stories of Pueblo life and culture.  She received the New Mexico Governor’s Award in 1982 and the NEA Heritage Fellowship in 1986.  This piece is unsigned but attributed to her.  Her first storyteller was made in 1964 and was unsigned and is featured on the front cover of the 1983 American Indian Art Magazine.  The piece also resides in the permanent collection of the Folk Art Museum in Santa Fe.  She made additional figures that were unsigned, but similar in style.  It is easy to see the similarities of this figure to her first one with shape of the body, the designs on the shirt and necklace, and style of the children.  It is a complex and interesting piece.  The storyteller is painted with wild spinach (black) and red clay on white clay.  It was traditionally fired.  It is unsigned and is accompanied by a letter of attribution.  The figure is in very good condition with no chips, cracks, restoration, or repair.