Charmae Shields-Natseway

Artist Profile

Charmae Shields-Natseway is a member of the Yellow Corn Clan from the Acoma Pueblo. She was born in 1958 and has been working with clay art since 1977. She learned the art of working with clay from Dolores Sanchez (grandmother) and Ethel Shields (mother). They taught her the fundamentals of constructing pottery using the ancient traditional method of hand coiling and pinching that has been passed down from generation to generation.

Charmae is noted for her superb quality of lidded pottery cylinders, boxes and pyramids. She signs her pottery: Charmae Shields Natseway, Acoma, N.M., followed by a corn stalk to denote her family origin.