Santa Clara and San Juan Pueblo

Dolores Curran is a full blooded Native American Indian. She was born into the Santa Clara and San Juan Pueblo. She learned the basics of constructing pottery using the ancient traditional methods of her ancestors from her grandmother, who only knew how to mix the clay which was enough to spark an interest in several of the family members who united and brought back the pottery making tradition in their family. She has been constructing pottery since 1979.

Dolores has developed her own unique style of contemporary hand polished miniature pottery. She gathers her raw clumps of clay and natural vegetation from within the Santa Clara Pueblo. She breaks down the clumps to form a fine powder form and hand mixes water with volcanic ash, and water. Once the clay is mixed to a fine medium she begins to build her pottery by hand coiling snake like coils and wrapping each layer on one another. When her pottery takes the right shape she sets them out to dry and when they are dried she sands down all the rough edges for a fine smooth finish, then, she hand polishes and hand paints her designs with colors that she has boiled from the natural vegetation.

Her favorite designs are: Avanyu (serpent believed to protect Pueblo People), feathers, clouds, and bears.

She signs her pottery as: Delores Curran SCP.

She is related to: Alvin Curran (husband), Ursula (daughter), Kevin Naranjo (nephew), and Geri Naranjo (sister).

Publications:
-Southern Pueblo Pottery 2,000 Artist Biographies
-Southwestern Pottery Anasazi to Zuni
-The New Mexican Magazine Summer 1993

Awards:
-2001 New Mexico State Fair 3rd Place
-1998 Santa Fe Indian Market Best of Division
-1993 Santa Fe Indian Market Best of Classification
-1992 Santa Fe Indian Market Best of Division
-1991 Santa Fe Indian Market Best of Division
-1990 Santa Fe Indian Market Best of Division
-1989 Santa Fe Indian Market Best of Division
-1988 Santa Fe Indian Market Best of Division
-1986 Santa Fe Indian Market First Place
-1984 Santa Fe Indian Market First Place