Norma Jean Ortiz is of the Acoma Native American culture and is of the Big Turkey (from her mother's side) and Small Eagle (from her father's side) clans. Like other Native American cultures, clans are deep-rooted in Acoma culture and allow the people to distinguish who it is safe to marry by avoiding members that are too closely related to themselves, thereby keeping the Acoma blood strong. There are 12 clans in the Acoma Native American culture, and every member identifies themselves as both a "Big" and "Little" clan. An Acoma would never marry someone from the same "Big" clan as themselves. Watch this video of Norma Jean Ortiz discussing and demonstrating how she paints her traditional Acoma pottery: Norma Jean Ortiz has been making pottery for over 35 years. Her pottery has also been refered to as Anasazi pots because it is of the same style created by the ancient Anasazi people who used this pottery for cooking. Norma Jean learned the traditional Acoma coil method of pottery making as a child by observing her great-grandmother and grandmother. The coil method of making pottery is a technique that has been practiced and perfected by the Acoma people over hundreds of years. The technique begins by rolling out the clay into long serpentine like strips which are to be fastened together and coiled around and around until the base of the pot is formed. Slowly the artist begins to build the walls of the pot by coiling the strips up and up on top and outward from one another. To give the pots their rigid texture, Norma Jean uses a deer antler to press into the strips while she is doing the coiling, this creates the pot's corrugation. Once she has completed coiling and corrugating her pottery, the shape has been formed, Norma Jean will paint the clay. Norma Jean uses the traditional yucca brush, a very tiny and thin brush that allows for the intricate details of the Acoma pottery to be painted. The paints that Norma Jean uses come from organic materials. The color black comes from wild spinach that grows on the Acoma lands, this spinach must be boiled until it turns into a black tar substance which is then used as the paint. The yellow, which appears as a reddish brown after being fired, is made from sandstone which also occurs naturally on Acoma lands. After being painted, the pottery is fired in an ancient kiln which gives this pottery its trademark white coloring. Besides making traditional Acoma corrugated pottery, Norma Jean also creates other pieces of clay, most notably small Christmas ornaments and "Mother Turtle" sculptures. Norma Jean tells the old Acoma legend of the "Mother Turtle" embodied in her sculptures. As it goes, the Mother Turtle came to the Acoma village and would watch over the Acoma children, allowing them to play on her back, so that the Acoma women would be free to make their pottery and the children would not accidentally break any of their mothers' pottery during their games. This is why today Norma Jean creates clay sculptures of the Mother Turtle. Finally, Norma Jean rounds out her traditional Acoma artwork by painting scenes of Acoma heritage. In her paintings, Norma Jean illustrates ancient Acoma symbols like using the color orange to represents the sun, the color black which depicts the mountains and clouds, and the portrayal of lines and spots which symbolize the rain in her paintings. Additionally, Norma Jean portrays the Acoma "Sky City" in her paintings by showing the traditional Acoma homes, their ladders, and the Acoma people. To view a catalogue including all types of Norma Jean Ortiz's traditional Acoma artwork, please click on the link below. |
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| Catalogue of Traditional Acoma Artwork by Norma Jean Ortiz | |
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