Andrew Padilla

Andrew Padilla is a full blooded Native American Indian. He was born in 1956. He is half Laguna and half Santa Clara. He was inspired to learn the art of working with clay from his grandmother, Reycita Padilla. She was from the Santa Clara Pueblo and began teaching Andrew all the fundamentals of pottery making at the age of 10. Reycita taught him how to hand coil black on black traditional Santa Clara pottery. He continued making the Santa Clara pottery until 1982. When he moved to the Laguna Pueblo, he experimented with the white Laguna clay. He learned this process from his mother, Gladys Paquin. Gladys showed Andrew which mesa provided the best clay so he would only use the finest natural pigments to make his pottery. She also taught him all of her special techniques of working with clay. The clay is gathered in the early spring and the beginning of the fall. He cleans, mixes, hand coils, shapes, and fires his pottery the traditional way, outdoors. He hand coils many different shapes and sizes of pottery. He enjoys making the white melon vessels and on occasion accents a kiva step lid as the crown. Andrew has combined his Santa Clara and Laguna cultures to create this elegant contemporary style of art which he is credited with. He signs his pottery as: Andrew Padilla, Laguna, N.M.