Maria Montoya Martinez (1887-1980 San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico) Derek Gonzales born 1986 Maria Martinez was from the San Ildefonso Pueblo, a community located 20 miles northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico. At an early age, she learned pottery skills from her aunt. During this time, Spanish tin ware and Anglo enamelware had become readily available in the Southwest, making the creation of traditional cooking and serving pots less necessary. Traditional pottery-making techniques were being lost, but Martinez and her family experimented with different techniques and helped preserve this cultural art. In a curatorial exhibit at the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe, Timothy Robert Rogers cleverly has placed together Agnes Martin, Maria Martinez and Florence Pierce, who are noted for producing simple, elegant and refined art that displays their quest for perfection. Pursuit of Perfection marks the first time these three New Mexican artists have been brought together for their common visions and mastery of transcendence in art. After her son, Popovi Da, began working alongside his mother, Maria began referring to herself as “Maria” on the pottery. They began co-signing their pieces around 1959 as “Maria +Poveka” and “Maria/Popovi."Thus, studying the signature on one of Maria’s pots can give a clue to the date of completion, as dates were not added to the pottery until recent years. Maria’s son, Adam, and his wife Santana, collected clay, coiled, polished, decorated, and fired the pottery. Adam took over his father’s job of collecting clay and painting the decorations. “Marie + Santana” became the new signature on the pots. #7 Maria Povika c 1970 4500 #2 Maria Povika c 1965 2500 #6 Santana & Adam Yucca Design c1970! #3 Santana & Adam c1970 ! ! ! 1200 1200 Derek Gonzales creates similar fine-line perfectionism in his graphic murals that are found in Maria’s pottery. Studying graphic design at the Art Center of Design College in Albuquerque, Gonzales has been inspired by pop-culture and his own indigenous culture, where he finds new and old commonalities in abstraction as a powerful form of communication. Gonzales moved back to San Ildefonso Pueblo after college and has a studio there. Untitled 2015 Vinyl over wood panel- 96 by 48 by 2.25 inches, size vary 4,000 (does not include installation)