San Felipe & San Juan Pueblo

Myrtle Cata is a full blooded Native American Indian, member of the Turquoise Clan, who was born in 1953. She is part San Felipe and part San Juan Pueblo. She was inspired to continue the long lived tradition of hand coiling pottery from within her heart. The lucrative aspect of the business was also inspiration for her decision to become an artist. She has been hand coiling pottery since 1979. She attended many art classes to learn the art of working with clay. While going to school, she developed a friendship with Tina Garcia from the Santa Clara Pueblo. They shared special techniques and learned each other’s methods of working with clay.

Myrtle specializes in contemporary hand coiled San Juan style pottery. Her pottery style is simple in appearance. It is thin walled, graceful, and undecorated. She gathers her clay from within the San Juan Pueblo. Then, she cleans, mixes, hand coils, shapes, and fires her pottery, outdoors. She signs her pottery as: Myrtle Cata, San Juan Pueblo. Myrtle is a very creative artist that expands her creativity in many directions. She constructs men’s head dresses among many of her other creations.

Awards:
-1986 Santa Fe Indian Market 3rd place
-1997 Gallup Inter-Tribal Ceremonial 1st place
-1998 Gallup Inter-Tribal Ceremonial 1st place
-1999 New Mexico State Fair 4th Place

Publications:
-Southern Pueblo Pottery 2,000 Artist Biographies
-Southwestern Pottery Anasazi to Zuni
-Pueblo Indian Pottery 750 Artist Biographies
-New Mexico State Fair 1996 2nd place