Terrance Chino

Artist Profile

Terrance M. Chino, Sr. is a member of the Sun Clan. He was born in 1965 into the Acoma pueblo. He learned the ancient traditional methods of working with clay art from his mother, the late Evelyn L. Chino. She taught him the fundamentals of how to prepare and hand coil pottery. She also taught him the importance of continuing the long lived tradition of his ancestors.

Terrance cleans his clay for impurities and hand mixes it with water to temper the clay. Then, he begins the hand coiling process. He prays and chants while he works on his pottery so that each piece is blessed. When he has completed the hand coiling and his pot has taken form, he sets them out to dry. While the pottery is drying he breaks down all his plants so that he may begin hand boiling colors for his masterpieces. He gathers plants such as spinach plant and wild flowers for this process. When his pottery is fully dried he sands each piece to a smooth finish and begins hand painting with the stem of a yucca plant which has been fashioned into a brush. He hand paints his favorite designs of checkerboards, flowers, mimbres and sunfaces. Finally, Terrance fires his pottery the traditional way, outdoors. He signs his pottery: Terrance M. Chino, Sr., Acoma, N.M. Terrance is related to: Terrance M. Chino, Jr. (son), Emil Chino, Jeffrey Chino, Sr. (brothers), Ilona Chino, Colleen Marian, Marlene Vallo, Idene Mariano (sisters), Ivan F. Chino (father), and the late Evelyn L. Chino (mother).