Jose Antonio

Jose M. Antonio is a full blooded Native American Indian from the Roadrunner Clan.  He was born into the Acoma Pueblo on March 13, 1966.   He credits his mother, Hilda Antonio, known for her hand sculpted owls, and his grandmother, Eva Histia, for his inspiration.
They taught him all the fundamentals of working with clay art using the ancient traditional hand coiling methods.  He was a natural at painting his designs at a very young age.

Jose specializes in authentic hand coiled and hand painted polychrome jars and bowls.  He gathers the raw clumps of clays from the Acoma Pueblo along with the natural vegetation which is used for making the natural colors used to paint the designs.  He begins by breaking  the clumps of clay and cleaning it until it reaches a fine medium.   Then, the clay is mixed with water and other natural pigments and thus begins the hand coiling process.  He rolls out snake like coils stacking each coil carefully to build the shape of the vessel.  Once the vessel has been shaped and formed it is set out to dry.  Then, he begins working on the natural vegetation that he has gathered such as, spinach plant which provides the black color, and various other plants that provide more vibrant colors.   A yucca stem is fashioned into a brush for painting the designs.  Once the vessel has dried he sands it for a smooth painting surface.  Then, he boils his pigments and plant life to form just the right colors.  He finally starts the authentic hand painting process on his vessel.  He enjoys painting feathers and fineline designs.  Once the painting has been complete and the paint has dried Jose  fires his pottery in a kiln.  His family is well known for their exquisite hand painted traditional designs.  He signs his pottery as:  J. Antonio, Acoma.