Shytaza White Dove Pottery

While pursuing a degree in museum studies at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I became fascinated by the dynamic and contemporary world of ceramics.  Planning to enroll in a ceramics course in order to learn the art of throwing pottery, I was asked by one instructor about my tribal origin.  Upon learning that I hailed from Acoma Pueblo, world renown for its pottery, I was advised that the greatest teachers were to be found on my ancestral homeland.  In January 1984, my maternal grandmother, Connie O. Cerno, became my mentor.  Engaging a methodical and disciplined approach to traditional Acoma form, functions and style, I learned the art of patience, timing, and the inner spirit’s relationship to the environment, nature, and the metaphysical plane.  In learning about flowing with life’s energy, the breath of polychrome flora and fauna became freedom, flight and spirit.

I am a full blood of Acoma Pueblo descent, and throughout the years I have been involved in many personal endeavors, and community activities impacting my people and Indian Country.  From feeding and harvesting salmon along the eastern seaboard as a marine site technician, to community organizing, then, becoming the founder, editor, and publisher of a newsletter for the Acoma grassroots tribal members, I have found an immeasurable degree of personal freedom, spiritual awakening, appreciation and satisfaction.

By researching, observing, studying and learning traditional elements, I have created and built upon tradition to form my own contemporary style, and in the process have transcended above the traditional plane.  For example, my highly stylized parrot design has become a deviation from the traditional parrot forms and elements.  No longer coalescing, but serving only as a distant reminder of the origin and myths of my people. – Shytaza White Doe