Rose Gonzales
Red Horizon
4" H
x 4 1/4" D
Rose Cata Gonzales was born
in San Juan Pueblo around the turn of the century. When she was
very young her parents died during a swine flu epidemic. She
and her sister Pomasen were left orphans and lived with a relative,
Mary Cata. In 1920 Rose married Robert Gonzales and, along with
her sister, moved to his native pueblo of San Ildefonso.
It was her mother-in-law,
Ramona Sanchez Gonzales, who taught Rose how to make pottery.
She learned the methods of black-on-black, polished blackware
and black-on-red. By 1930 she began to create very refined and
highly polished, blackware and redware. The fine redware she
made came from her home tradition of San Juan pueblo.
In 1930 she also began her
innovative process of deep carved pottery. Her carved blackware
pottery was an original creation. She credits a shard of carved
pottery that was found by her husband while deer hunting for
giving her the idea. Using a sharp knife and a chisel she would
carve out her designs. She carefully sanded her edges to create
a “cameo” style with the design standing out in low
relief.
She would then sand the edges
of her design to create more rounded forms. She used an old-style
yucca brush when adding painted designs to her pieces. Some of
her favorite designs were the Avanyu (water serpent), birds,
clouds, seeds uncurling, thunderbird (mythology) figures and
kiva steps.
When firing she used juniper
wood and cow dung, placing the pots upside down on a metal grate
to allow the flames to swirl evenly around them. She would often
fire up to twenty pots at a time.
During the 1930s and 40s she
traded these innovative pots for food, allowing her to feed her
large family. By the 1970s she had received numerous awards from
the Santa Fe Indian Market, the Gallup Intertribal Ceremonial
and had become a well-known and successful potter.
Rose taught her son Tse-Pe
to make pottery along with his wife Dora and their daughter Irene.
Rose and Tse-Pe sometimes worked together, especially when creating
pottery in duotones (two shades of the same color). While Tse-Pe
also carves pottery he prefers sgraffito, which is carving designs
in low relief.
Rose had a major influence
on pottery making at San Ildefonso and today her pieces have
become highly valued by collectors. She died in 1989.
