Wilfred Garcia, Jr.

Wilfred Garcia, Jr., is a full blooded Native American Indian. He was born in 1954 into the Acoma Pueblo. He was inspired to learn the art of working with clay from his mother-in-law, the late Stella Shutiva. She taught him all the fundamentals of working with clay and using the ancient traditional methods that have been passed down from generation to generation. Wilfred was very artistically inclined as a young boy and thus sparked his interest in pursuing a career as a pottery artisan.

Wilfred has established himself as a fine contemporary pottery artisan. He gathers clumps of natural clays from within the Acoma Pueblo. He breaks down the clumps into a fine powder form which he hand mixes with sand and water to temper the clay. Then, he rolls his moist clay into snake like coils and begins building his pottery into the desired shape. He creates many shapes of pottery vessels such as: seedpots, vases, and Mesa Verde motif vases with ladders. Once his vessels are built he sets them out to dry. Once his formed pottery vessels are dry he sands them down for a smooth finish. Finally, Wilfred fires his pottery in a kiln. He signs his pottery as: WGarcia, Acoma. Wilfred states: “Making pottery for over 12 years has given me joy and love for my art. I take my time with every piece that I construct so that each piece is special”. He is related to: Jackie Histia-Shutiva (sister-in-law) and Sandra Garcia (spouse).