This is a creative bowl by Robert Tenorio.  The bowl is painted with wild spinach (black) and red and copper-colored clay slips.  The top half of the bowl has a train with the various cars all the way to the caboose.  There is the historic church at Santo Domingo (Kewa), which is surrounded by pueblo buildings.  In the area in front of the train are the buildings and women from the Pueblo with their pottery.  There is a little girl with her wagon and a man with a horse and wagon.   It is amazing how much detail and story there is on this piece!  Robert says that his train pots remind him of the older days when the Kewa village would hear the train whistle and come out to watch it pass by.  The bowl is traditionally fired.  It is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Robert Tenorio, Kewa”.

Brand

Tenorio, Robert (b. 1950)

 

Robert Tenorio

Robert Tenorio is one of the most famous Kewa (Santo Domingo) potters working today. He learned to make pottery from his grandmother Andrea Ortiz and Lupe Tenorio his great-aunt. He also studied under Otellie Loloma when he went to school at IAIA. He creates classic Santo Domingo forms along with some his own stylistic patterns and shapes. Robert has won numerous awards for his pottery and his pottery is found in museums across the United States.