To round out Native American Heritage Month, we'll celebrate three Pueblo women whose work helped bring Indigenous artists greater recognition. I lived in Santa Fe for ten years and Albuquerque for two, and have a great deal of respect for this region's Pueblo communities, which are too often treated as tourist destinations rather than living sovereign nations whose people have sustained their cultures through more than four centuries of colonization and attempts at cultural erasure.
Maria Montoya Martinez made pottery at San Ildefonso Pueblo. Tonita Peña, born at San Ildefonso and later living at Cochiti, painted community life and dances in watercolor. Pablita Velarde, from Santa Clara Pueblo, learned from Peña and developed a painting career of her own.
Working in different media and circumstances, these three artists ask us to consider more than the finished object. Who made it, who taught her, who worked alongside her, and how was she recognized and paid? I thought about this a lot when tourist season hit Santa Fe (which was year-round, honestly) and we'd see happy art aficionados pouring into museums, galleries, and the tourist market. I appreciated vendors who provided solid documentation and helped buyers learn about the artists and communities from which the work came.
When you're just buying a souvenir, this may feel like I'm overreaching. But even an inexpensive knickknack can borrow designs or imagery from a cultural tradition that we, as everyday tourists, know little about. Not all of that work is sacred, but it deserves more consideration than whether it looks nice on a shelf. And when objects are falsely marketed as Native-made, they compete with Native artists' work, divert income from artisans, and mislead buyers about whose skills and cultural knowledge they are supporting.
The Indian Arts and Crafts Act prohibits that misrepresentation, including false claims that a work was made by a member or certified artisan of a particular tribe. But I believe artists and cultural traditions deserve meaningful protection wherever they are found. Taking an interest in living artists, respecting how they describe their work, and supporting their ability to earn a living are all part of honoring the legacies we celebrate here.
Let me share a quick shop update!
The Brave Sis Shop is filled with beautiful designs, made by me! Check out the "old school" merch on the Sisterhood Store page! It's holiday shopping time, and your purchase helps support this whole enterprise, while bringing a smile to the giftees! With the holiday rush upon us, it's best to make your purchases soon.
Maria Montoya Martinez (c. 1886/1887 – July 20, 1980)
Maria Montoya Martinez was born at San Ildefonso Pueblo in northern New Mexico. Her Tewa name, Po've'ka, means water lily or pond lily. She learned pottery as a girl, and in 1904, the year she married Julian Martinez, she demonstrated her work at the St. Louis World's Fair.
She was making earthenware within a long Pueblo tradition. Over the generations, elders passed along the knowledge of where to obtain the clay and other materials and how to shape and polish them into vessels or household or ceremonial use. They also passed along the artistic dexterity in decorating and firing the pieces. To these traditions, Maria would add personal artistic flourish that influenced many potters to come.
In 1908, archaeologist Edgar Lee Hewett asked Maria to reproduce ancestral pottery excavated in Frijoles Canyon, now part of Bandelier National Monument. She and Julian experimented over the following years, developing the distinctive black-on-black pottery for which they became internationally known. Maria formed and polished the pots; Julian decorated and fired them.
Black pottery was already known among the Pueblo people. Creators would reduce the oxygen flow by smothering the fire, which would blacken the pot. Maria and Julian's added an innovation to the process, adding matte decoration onto the highly polished surface, which surfaced a beautiful contrast between the designs of the two finishes.
Signing the work
From a cultural and historical standpoint, pottery-making entailed shared knowledge and often shared labor, so personal signature was uncommon. In the outside fine-art market, however, Maria was encouraged to begin signing her name, as so doing would help command a higher price through its verified authenticity.
The Martinezes at work. Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
Early signatures included "Marie," followed by "Marie + Julian." After Julian died in 1943, Maria worked with her daughter-in-law Santana and later her son Popovi Da, and the signatures reflected those collaborations. Naming the artist did not mean denying that other people participated in making the work. While some may have scoffed at the practice of receiving individual credit for what was a passed-down tradition, Maria used the commercial value of her reputation to help others earn income and to normalize the value and esteem of the artworks.
This concept matters to all artists and creators, whether traditional or contemporary, and across all disciplines (including this free newsletter!) Admiring the work is not the same as supporting the people who make it. Artists need income, materials, and time to continue working and teaching. Maria's career offers an example of earning recognition for one's own skills while also creating opportunities for family and community members. She shared her methods and, according to published accounts, sometimes signed pots made by others so they could sell them under her well-known name. This is a canny version of cooperative economics!
Maria continued teaching, demonstrating, and collaborating after Julian's death. When she died on July 20, 1980, she left an artistic legacy carried forward by descendants and other Pueblo potters, as well as represented in museum collections.
Reflection: Who taught you a skill you now consider your own? How do you acknowledge that person when you share or sell your work?
Tonita Peña (May 10, 1893 – September 9, 1949)
Tonita Peña was born at San Ildefonso Pueblo in 1893 and was also known by her Tewa name, Quah Ah. In 1905, her mother and younger sister died of influenza, and she went to live with her aunt and uncle at Cochiti Pueblo. Although both communities were in northern New Mexico, the move meant learning Keres, rather than her first language, Tewa, and becoming part of a different Pueblo community.
She had begun painting as a child. While she is often described as self-taught, two people helped her develop her work: Esther B. Hoyt, a teacher at the San Ildefonso Day School, provided materials and encouragement, while archaeologist and museum patron Edgar Lee Hewett purchased her paintings and supplied paper and watercolors.
Peña was the only woman in the group commonly called the San Ildefonso Self-Taught Group, whose members included Julian Martinez, Alfonso Roybal, and other Pueblo painters. She is recognized as the first Pueblo woman easel painter. Her ink and watercolor works depicted dancers and community life with careful attention to movement, clothing, and relationships among the figures.
Making room for her work
Peña's choice of painting challenged expectations about women's artistic roles. Published accounts describe criticism of her depictions of ceremonies and concerns about selling those images outside the Pueblo. One account reports that her husband, Epitacio Arquero, negotiated with the tribal council so she could continue painting. These were questions about cultural responsibilities as well as a woman's right to pursue her work, and we should not assume that every member of her community held the same position.
In addition to these pressures, Tonita dealt with concerns familiar to many working artists: access to supplies, interruptions, privacy, and questions about payment. In a letter to Hewett, she described people coming to watch her paint and a neighbor asking about her earnings. She wanted to work in Santa Fe, where she hoped for greater privacy. The letter gives us a glimpse of an artist trying to establish the conditions she needed to work, not simply someone whose talent had been "discovered" by a patron.
Tonita Peña dance painting
Peña was widowed twice before marrying Arquero in 1922. She raised a family while continuing to paint, exhibit, and teach. Her son Joe Hilario Herrera became an artist as well.
Recognition and influence
Peña's work appeared in the 1931 Exposition of Indian Tribal Arts in New York and the 1932 Venice Biennale, helping introduce international audiences to Pueblo painting. During the 1930s, she also taught at Indian schools, including the Santa Fe Indian School. There, she became an important example and source of encouragement for Pablita Velarde, whose own painting career would bring further recognition to Pueblo women artists.
Peña died in September 1949, at fifty-six. Her paintings remain in museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Remembering her contributions means recognizing not only the paintings she made, but also the younger artists she helped see a future for themselves in this work.
Reflection: When have you pursued work that people around you did not expect you to do? Whose encouragement helped you continue?
Pablita Velarde (September 19, 1918 – January 12, 2006)
Pablita Velarde was born at Santa Clara Pueblo in 1918. Her Tewa name, Tse Tsan, means Golden Dawn. At the Santa Fe Indian School, she studied with Dorothy Dunn and was one of the first girls in Dunn's painting program, established in 1932.
Dunn encouraged her students to depict Native life using clearly outlined forms, flat color, and limited perspective. Velarde learned within this approach while bringing her own experiences and interests to the work. Her paintings included women's daily activities as well as ceremonies, stories, and other aspects of Pueblo life. Those depictions of women's work were unusual in Dunn's predominantly male class.
Tonita Peña, whom we met just above, was a particular source of encouragement to young Pablita. Both spoke Tewa, and Velarde spent evenings visiting Peña at the school and watching her paint. Their relationship gave her an example of a Pueblo woman pursuing the work she hoped to do herself.
The Bandelier paintings
In 1939, Velarde received a Works Progress Administration commission to create paintings of Pueblo life for Bandelier National Monument's visitor center. Between 1939 and 1945, she produced more than eighty paintings depicting daily activities and cultural practices. Park visitors could encounter an account informed by a Pueblo artist's own upbringing, memories, and knowledge, rather than relying entirely on interpretations by outsiders.
The commission also provided income. According to the New Mexico Historic Women profile, Velarde used her earnings to arrange the construction and furnishing of a home at Santa Clara without her father's assistance—an unusual undertaking for a Pueblo woman at the time. That is worth remembering alongside the paintings themselves: paid artistic work helped her establish greater independence.
Velarde worked in watercolor and other media and became particularly known for her "earth paintings," which incorporated pigments she prepared from ground rocks and minerals.
A career and an artistic family
When Velarde began, painting was not widely accepted as a career for Pueblo women. Nevertheless, she continued with her vocation and received regional, national, and international recognition. Among her honors were the French Palmes Académiques in the mid-1950s, a distinction recognizing contributions to education and culture, and the New Mexico Governor's Award for Achievement in the Arts in 1977.
Pueblo women weaving by Pablita Velarde, courtesy Wikimedia Commons
Pablita's daughter Helen Hardin and granddaughter Margarete Bagshaw also became accomplished painters, each developing a style distinct from hers. Hardin died in 1984, before her mother. Bagshaw died in 2015, nine years after her grandmother. Their work gives us three generations of women artists whose family connections mattered, but whose individual achievements deserve recognition as well.
Velarde died on January 12, 2006, at eighty-seven, having continued her artistic work to the end of her life. We celebrate her accomplishments and the example she provided for younger Native women who wanted to pursue creative work, including work others did not consider appropriate for them.
Reflection: What part of your creative life have you had to make time or space for? What support would help you continue?
Reflection and Action: Journal Prompts for Everyone
As you think about Maria Montoya Martinez: what art, skills, or other practice have you learned from an older relative or community member, and how have you adapted it?
Considering Tonita Peña: when have other people's expectations limited what you felt permitted to do? Who helped you reconsider those limits?
In light of Pablita Velarde: what creative interest have you postponed because other responsibilities seemed more important? What would make it more of a possibility now?
HerStory / OurStory: Journal Prompts for Women of Color
In tribute to Maria Montoya Martinez: which practices connect you with your family or community? Write about one you want to continue and the person from whom you learned it.
Honoring Tonita Peña: who was the first woman you saw doing work you wanted to do? What did her example change for you?
Thinking of Pablita Velarde: where does your own experience appear in what you make? What would you like younger people in your family to know about that work?
Activated Allies: Prompts and Actions for White Friends
In honor of Maria Montoya Martinez: read the Indian Arts and Crafts Board’s explanation of truthful marketing and consult its Source Directory of Native-owned businesses. When shopping, ask who made the piece and how the seller knows. Buying directly from an artist can also give you a chance to learn how that artist describes the work.
To celebrate Tonita Peña: spend time with her Buffalo Dance in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s online collection. Read the museum’s account of her career and look closely at the figures, movement, and use of space. If you want to see work in person, check with the museum first: ownership does not mean a painting is currently on display.
For Pablita Velarde: learn about the Institute of American Indian Arts, which supports contemporary Native artists. Its proposed federal funding elimination for fiscal year 2026 was reversed when Congress approved $13.482 million. Read the school’s account and consider supporting its work or advocating for continued funding.
Maria Montoya Martinez signed her name in a market that demanded one, then used that name to help other potters sell their work. Tonita Peña was the first Pueblo woman easel painter, and she went on painting through the criticism and taught the next one coming up. Pablita Velarde painted more than eighty works for Bandelier and used what she earned to build a house of her own. When you buy, ask who made the piece, and buy from her.
In the second part of our signature course, Unengaged to Ally, Advocate to "Sister", we work toward cultural competence that is genuinely generous—not extractive, not exoticizing—alongside modules on the white savior complex, tokenism, and the history that gets left out of the telling. If this is a topic that intrigues you for further study and self-growth, come see our online school.
Supporting Native Artists Today
The Indian Arts and Crafts Act prohibits marketing a product in a way that falsely suggests it was made by a Native artist or by a member or certified artisan of a particular tribe. Under the law, qualifying artists are members of federally or officially state-recognized tribes, or artisans certified by a tribe. Its purpose is truthful representation, not a blanket prohibition on non-Native artists using particular materials or techniques.
Enforcement has been uneven. A 2011 Government Accountability Office report found that reliable estimates of the market's size and the extent of misrepresentation were unavailable. It recorded 649 complaints received during fiscal years 2006–2010 and five federal cases filed since 1990. Those are historical figures, not current totals, but they document the difficulty of enforcing these protections.
There are also recent prosecutions. In August 2026, Molly Breivis was sentenced to time served and fined $10,000 after admitting that she sold more than $92,000 in imported jewelry falsely represented as Apache, Laguna, Navajo, or Zuni work. Her conviction was for a misdemeanor involving goods valued below $1,000, so the maximum penalties for a felony did not apply to that conviction.
I lived in Santa Fe when a group of cultural supporters came together to establish the International Folk Art Market, which began in 2004. Its 2026 artist roster included 148 participating artists and groups from 53 countries. Along with the annual Santa Fe Indian Market, it gives visitors an opportunity to meet artists, learn about their work, and purchase directly from the people who make it. These markets create income for living artists while giving us the pleasure of bringing their work into our homes.
You don't have to think of yourself as a collector to take an interest in handmade work. If souvenir shopping is part of your travels, consider visiting an artist's booth, studio, or a shop that can tell you who made what you're buying. A modest purchase can still be meaningful, and learning about the person behind it can become part of what you remember about the trip. When your budget allows, buying directly from artists is one way to support the work and traditions you've come to appreciate.
