In 2009, Santo Domingo Pueblo’s tribal council decided to change the pueblo’s name back to theancestral name Kewa Pueblo (pronounced KEE-wah) and is situated between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Santo Domingo, one of the largest of the northern Pueblos, is one of the best known tribes of the southwest Indians, largely because of their skill in marketing their jewelry and other crafts. The Pueblo is fifth in population of the nineteen New Mexico Pueblos, and is generally considered the most conservative in terms of customs and culture.
Life in the Pueblo has altered little since the arrival of the white man. Santo Domingo people have closely guarded their ceremonies, placing great emphasis on their ancient religious structures and societies which are the center of their social structure. While adhering strictly to tribal authority, much of the Pueblo productivity is devoted to the making of jewelry. They travel all over the country displaying and selling the silver and turquoise necklaces, rings and bracelets which have made them famous They also make fine heishe of turquoise and other stones and silver.
The pottery of this pueblo is strictly traditional, reproducing with care, the ancient forms and decorations. The natural clay at Kewa is quite elastic and lends itself to larger pieces. Traditional designs are bold geometrics where the negative space plays a prominent role. Other traditional designs incorporate abstract floral, animal and figurative motifs. Coloration is equally bold, commonly a combination of black and orange with a cream slip over the buff-colored clay. Traditional pottery techniques involve first digging the clay out of the ground, mixing it with water and sifting out impurities then letting the sifted clay dry to a working state. The pottery is coiled by hand and smoothed. A clay slip (a paintable mixture of highly refined clay and water) is applied and decoration with natural pigments follows. The pottery is allowed to dry and then fired outside in a hand dug pit using available materials.
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1940s Polychrome Basket Shaped Pot
$260 Add to cart -
Althea Cajero Coral and Gold Earrings
$850 Add to cart -
Althea Cajero Dragonfly and Tahitian Pearl Pendant
$750 Add to cart -
Althea Cajero Floating Band and Coral Cuff
$1,100 Add to cart -
Althea Cajero Tahitian Pearl Cuff
$1,100 Add to cart -
Coral Heishi Necklace
$300 Add to cart -
Delbert and Torevia Crespin Inlaid Eagle Tail Necklace
$1,400 Add to cart -
Double Strand Kingman Heishi with Jaclas
$980 Add to cart -
Double Strand Mediterranean Coral Necklace
$500 Add to cart -
Four Strand Turquoise and Spiny Oyster necklace
$225 Add to cart -
Hand drilled NATURAL Green Heishi Necklace
$1,500 Add to cart -
Heishi and Chunk Turquoise Necklace
$120 Add to cart -
Jan Tenorio Blessings In The Sky Necklace
$700 Add to cart -
Jolene Bird Inlaid Aspen Bowl
$4,200 Add to cart -
Jolene Bird Inlaid Turquoise Cuff
$550 Add to cart -
Kingman Turquoise Heishi Necklace
$300 Add to cart -
Lester Abeyta Graduated Manassas Turquoise Necklace
$750 Add to cart -
Lester Abeyta Manassa Turquoise Slab Earrings
$140 Add to cart -
Lester Abeyta Slab Earrings
$125 Add to cart -
Lupe Lovato Natural Blue Kingman Turquoise Earrings
$140 Add to cart -
Lupe Lovato Triple Strand Heishi Necklace
$990 Add to cart -
Morenci Heishi Necklace
$800 Add to cart -
Natural Turquoise Heishi Necklace
$550 Add to cart -
Offset Double Strand Coral Necklace
$750 Add to cart -
Rafaelita Aguilar Black on Black Olla
$1,100 Add to cart -
Rafaelita Aguilar Black on Black Wedding Vase
$600 Add to cart -
Rafaelita Aguilar Dough Bowl
$1,600 Add to cart -
Santo Domingo Ten Strand Nugget Necklace
$325 Add to cart -
Single Heishi Strand
$350 Add to cart -
Single Heishi Strand with Large Turquoise Cabochon
$430 Add to cart -
Six Strand Turquoise Heishi Necklace
$725 Add to cart -
Sterling Silver Handmade Bead Necklace
$1,600 Add to cart -
Sterling Silver Slide with Clasp
$100 Add to cart -
Ten Strand Spondylus and Turquoise Necklace
$500 Add to cart -
Ten Strand Turquoise and Olive Shell Heishi Necklace
$350 Add to cart -
Ten Strand Turquoise Heishi Necklace
$1,100 Add to cart -
Tony Aguilar Sterling Silver and Spiny Oyster Necklace
$1,400 Add to cart -
Triangular Inlaid Earrings
$140 Add to cart -
Two Strand Turquoise Apple Coral Necklace
$160 Add to cart -
Vintage Ten Strand Natural Coral Necklace
$1,700 Add to cart