Burnishing History: The Legacies of Maria Martinez and Nesta Nala in Dialogue: Part I: An Historian’s Perspective

Abstract

This article is in two parts. “Part II: An Artists’ Conversation” immediately follows this article. As a complimentary historical overview, this text seeks to contextualize the Martinez and Nala families’ early entrées into high-end, nonindigenous markets. As such, the 1910s–1920s and 1980s–1990s are extensively discussed in the context of the Puebloan and Zulu regions, respectively. Although the rise of Martinez and Nala as doyens of art-pottery took place in these two locations nearly three-quarters of a century apart, the rhetorical devices of death, purity, and archeological inspiration used are strikingly similar. A full picture of the intercultural negotiations, both interpersonally and aesthetically, in which Martinez and Nala took part is impossible to portray in one article. Rather, the author traces the parallels between portrayals of these famous women and the comparative views of the Martinez and Nala lineages that have led to multiple references to Nala as “the Maria Martinez of South Africa.” The meanings of this comparison and the infrastructures of support surrounding each family are juxtaposed, and the challenges facing South African potters seeking to replicate the successes of the American Southwest are highlighted.

Keywords:

• Ceramics
• pottery
• Pueblo
• South Africa
• contemporary art
• Zulu
• San Ildefonso
• Tewa

Acknowledgments

My thanks to Ian Garrett, Michelle Lanteri, and Laura Holt for their assistance in manuscript preparation. Thanks also to Thembile Nala, Jabu Nala, Barbara Gonzalez, Cathleen Sanchez, Wayland Sanchez, Gilbert Sanchez, Abel Sanchez, Johnny Cruz, Elvis Torres, Christine McHorse, and Diego Romero for their generous participation in artists’ interviews that have informed this article.

Notes

¹ Puebloan is a term derived from the Spanish pueblo, a town or village. In the Southwestern US, this term refers to American Indian peoples with a history of fixed settlement reaching back to at least 700 CE. Many Pueblos resisted against Western colonization and continue today, both as political and physical entities.

² The term “government-to-government” refers to the fact that American Indian Reservations, including Southwestern Pueblos, maintain independent tribal governments. Pueblo to US governmental relations that have undergone various phases of cultural policies.

³ “Folkways” is a key term in the Smithsonian Institution’s discussions of folk. Folkways here would be, for instance, the method of passing down methods of pottery.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Elizabeth Perrill

Dr. Elizabeth Perrill is an Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, as well as Consulting Curator for African Art at the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh. Her primary research interests include the history of hand-built ceramics, South African contemporary art, and the economic history of ceramic arts in the modern and contemporary eras. Perrill’s single-author works include Zulu Pottery (2012) and Ukucwebezela: To Shine (2008), as well as numerous articles on the history of ceramics and Southern African contemporary art.