Myrtle Cata

Artist Profile

Myrtle Cata is a member of the Turquoise Clan, and was born in 1953. She is part San Felipe and part San Juan Pueblo. She has been hand coiling pottery since 1979. She attended many art classes to learn the art of working with clay. While in school, she developed a friendship with Tina Garcia from the Santa Clara Pueblo. They shared special techniques and learned each other’s methods of working with clay.

Myrtle specializes in contemporary hand coiled San Juan style pottery. Her pottery style is simple in appearance. It is thin walled, graceful and undecorated. She cleans, mixes, hand coils, shapes and fires her pottery outdoors. She signs her pottery as: Myrtle Cata, San Juan Pueblo. Myrtle is a very creative artist expanding her creativity in many directions. She constructs men’s head-dresses among many of her other creations.