Gerónima Cruz Montoya

Gerónima Cruz Montoya (Potsunu) (September 22, 1915 – January 2, 2015) was an Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo artist and educator from New Mexico. She taught Native American artists at the Studio at the Santa Fe Indian School.

Early life and education

Her parents were Pablo Cruz and Crucita Trujillo, both of Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico, where she was born. Her Pueblo name is "Potsunu", meaning "shell", and it is with this name that she signs her work. Her mother was a well-respected potter, and it was from her that Montoya learned the basics. She then studied at the Santa Fe Indian School with Dorothy Dunn, from which she graduated as the valedictorian in her class in 1935, and at Claremont College.

Career

Montoya taught painting at the Santa Fe Indian School from 1937 until 1961. While Dorothy Dunn was known for developing the Studio program at the Indian School, 1932–37, Montoya was the first Native American to teach painting there for over 24 years. One of the students at the School during her time there was Tonita Peña's son Joe Herrera.

Death and legacy

For her work as both teacher and painter, Montoya was awarded the 1994 Art and Cultural Achievement Award by the National Museum of the American Indian. In 1963 Montoya started an art education program at Ohkay Owingeh and in 1968 she founded the Oke'Oweege Artistic Cooperative there. Montoya died on January 2, 2015, at the age of 99.

Further reading

Jeanne Shutes and Jill Mellick, The Worlds of P'otsunu: Geronima Cruz Montoya of San Juan Pueblo, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. .

References

1915 births

2015 deaths

20th-century American painters

American women painters

Painters from New Mexico

Pueblo artists

People from Rio Arriba County, New Mexico

20th-century American women artists

Native American women artists

20th-century Native American artists

21st-century Native American artists

20th-century Native American women

21st-century Native American women