Virginia Fragua

Artist Profile

Virginia Fragua, “Ponca Flower” is a member of the Corn Clan and was born into the Jemez Pueblo in 1961. At the age of 16 she was inspired to continue the long lived family tradition of hand coiling pottery using ancient traditional methods. Her inspiration came from her grandmother, Persingula M. Gachupin. While learning potting techniques, Virginia and her grandmother developed a close relationship. As she perfected her skills, Virginia helped her mother paint her pottery.

Virginia specializes in hand coiled melon styled pottery. She was taught to clean, mix, hand coil, shape, add melon ridges, paint and fire her pottery the traditional way, outdoors with cedarwood chips. She also polishes her pottery to a nice shine. She really enjoys the challenge of hand making all different sizes and shapes. All of her pottery has a corn symbol painted on it to denote her Clan origin. Virginia signs her pottery V.P. Fragua, Jemez.

Virginia is related to Lenora G. Fragua (mother), Marie G. Romero (aunt), Bertha Gachupin (sister), Damian Toya (cousin), Camilla Toya (cousin) and the famous Maxine Toya (aunt).