ClayHound Web - Jicarilla Apache

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The Jicarilla Apache are located in Northern New Mexico.  They have a long history of making "micaceous" pottery...


  1. Bowl - Sheldon Nunez-Valarde

  2. Bird Effigy - Sheldon Nunez-Valarde

    The name Jicarilla means "little basket" and denotes an art form that made the basket makers famous.

    The Jicarilla Apache people of Northern New Mexico have a long tradition of making pottery. One band of the Jicarilla people are known as the "Olleros", which in Spanish means, "the people who make pottery". This referred to the pottery skills of this band.


Among the Jicarillas, pottery making was considered a woman's art because of their belief that the clay was the women's spirit. Jicarilla pottery became economically valuable in times of hardship, when the pots could be sold to purchase food and clothing. Once a lost art form Jicarilla Pottery is slowly making a revival. Although some Jicarillas are knowledgeable of making pottery, very few today are actually performing the art.