Artist
Helen Cordero
born Cochiti Pueblo, NM 1915-died 1994
- Also known as
- Helen Quintano
- Helen Quintana Cordero
- Daiyrowsita
- Helen Quintana
- Born
- Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico, United States
- Active in
- Bernalillo, New Mexico, United States
- Nationalities
- American
- Biography
Helen Cordero is known for her "storyteller" figures from Cochiti folklore. Her work helped to revive interest in the craft in 1964 when she sold her experimental figures at the Santo Domingo feast-day market (Charles Rosenak, "The Storytellers," Indians of New Mexico, 1990). Cordero used clay found around her home and fired her pieces over an open cedar flame. She was inspired to create these figures by memories of her grandfather, a Cochiti storyteller who was "always surrounded by enraptured small children." (Chuck and Jan Rosenak, Museum of American Folk Art Encyclopedia, 1990)