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Andrews Pueblo Pottery

 /images/andrewspottery.jpgThere are a few must visit shops in Old Town and Andrews is one of them. Helen Andrews, who is sadly no longer with us, was a full time school guidance counselor who spent her afternoons after school driving around to the Pueblos buying art for a shop she opened in 1974. Over the years she developed great friendships with artists such as Maria Martinez, Margaret Tafoya and many others. Bob, her son, who owns and runs Andrews today has continued to develop wonderful relationships with many great artists.

Yvonne Stokes came into the shop initially as a tourist many years ago and became so interested in fetishes that she has a collection of 600 or so, but who's counting. She now works at Andrews, and while meandering through the shop talking with her, I was called by a wonderful mountain lion by Lance Cheama. Yvonne encouraged me to hang out with him for a while, and see if he begged to come home with me. I took her advice and now understand how it is her collection is so large. He did, of course, ask to come home with me, and has now joined my small (only six) menagerie.

Yvonne commented freely on the wonderful relationships Bob has with his artists. She mentioned that Sheldon Harvey was only 24 when he brought his first wooden carving into the shop. Bob encouraged the young man, sold his remarkable carvings and paintings and now ships them all over the world. Sheldon has gone on to win Best In Show at Indian Market.

Troy Sice, likewise brought his first large katsinas of elk antler to Bob who encouraged him to continue with his dancing bears and human like faced larger carvings. Today he is a well known artist for this innovation.

Both of these are nice examples of shop owners, reminiscent of Trading Posts and Traders back in the day, working together with artists to bring their incredible talents to a receptive market, and subsequently, their remarkable culture to public attention.

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Inventory

While the shop boasts a large Pueblo pottery inventory and does have a wonderful collection of name artists and many pots, Bob also has lots and lots of Zuni fetishes. In fact, I think his collection is rivaled only by Keshi in Santa Fe in terms of numbers and accomplished artists. They carry some older baskets, a nice group of katsinas by Coolidge Roy, Brian Smith, Nuvadi Dawahoya, Neil David Sr., and others, as well as a large number of the traditional flat hanging katsina dolls, and they feature Troy Sice's and Sheldon Harvey's work.

Source Of Inventory

Because of the relationships built over the years, artists come to Andrews.

Shop Description

 The shop is bright with lots of natural light through the large windows up front. There are many interesting floor level, wall and table top glass cases used for display. It's roomy, easy to get around and fun to wander through. Every step brings something worth taking special note of.