Alvin Curran

Ohkay Owingeh (San Juan) deceased (1953-1999)

Alvin Curran was possibly the most refined and sophisticated San Juan style potter of his generation. He was married to our friend Dolores Curran and his daughter is Ursula Curran. We are pleased to work with both of these artists. Alvin took the traditional style of incised San Juan polychrome pottery and refined his carving and painted designs. Each piece is fully carved and then additional red and white clay slips are added to create the color. Amazingly, each year at events such as Santa Fe Indian Market, he would enter his pottery in the “carved” categories and win against much more deeply carved and fully polished traditional Santa Clara pottery. It reflected the precision of his work. His designs were meticulously outlined in pencil, and then carved into the clay.