Specializing in Native American Crafts Since 1916

Vangie Suina

Skills
Clay Artist

Artist Profile

Vangie Suina was born in the mid 1960’s into the Cochiti Pueblo. Her mother, Louise Suina, taught her the fundamentals of working with pottery artforms, from mixing the clay to hand building the dolls using the ancient traditional hand coiling method which has been passed down through several generations of their people. Vangie has been working with clay art since the age of 22. She chose to become an artisan so she could spend more time at home with her children and husband. Exercising her artistic skills allows her to contribute her unique style of art to the long lived legacy of her people.

Vangie specializes in contemporary storytellers, turtles and drums. She soaks her clay and later mixes it with sand to temper it. When the clay reaches the perfect consistency it is hand formed into a storyteller figurine. Then, she sets her figures out to dry. The drying process is a very delicate state in pottery making. Vangie needs to keep checking her pieces so they don’t crack, however, if they do crack in the early stages she can easily repair the figure and add more clay. Once the figures are dry, she places them on an outdoor grill and begins the baking process which lasts about two hours depending on the size of the figures. When the baking process is complete, she allows her pieces to cool down thoroughly and she begins to hand paint the pottery. She enjoys the painting process because it allows her to decorate her art in vivid contemporary hues and thus gives her a unique style all her own. She signs her pottery: Vangie Suina, Cochiti. Vangie is related to Anthony Suina (husband), Dena Suina (sister-in-law) and Louise Suina (mother).

Recent Work by Vangie Suina

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