Zuni Pottery Demonstration with Cassandra Tsalate

Join us at Coronado Historic Site for our artist demonstration program from May through October on the last Saturday of the month. This month watch Cassandra Tsalate (Zuni Pueblo) demonstrate Zuni pottery making.

Cassandra lives the quintessential Zuni Pueblo lifestyle: observing cultural events, gardening, cooking, and crafting. She creates traditional pottery, emphasizing the sustainability of agriculture and cultural revitalization. Working alongside Zuni and Pueblo potters, Cassandra learned various hand-coiling techniques to create prehistoric, historic, and contemporary pottery forms. She works with natural clay, paints with organic pigments and minerals, and interprets her designs to enhance spiritual value. She also experiments with wood for oxidation and reduction firings. As an agriculturalist, Cassandra creates pieces specifically for utilitarian uses and to share the cultural significance of those designs. Her passion for pottery will always be for her Zuni community’s artistic innovation and cultural revitalization.

The artist demonstration is included with admission of $7 for adults and free to children 16 and younger, Tribal members, NM disabled veterans, NM foster families, and MNMF and FCJHS members.

Image credit: Cassandra Tsalate, Deer and Antelope Jar, 2022. Courtesy of the artist.