Fannie Loretto,“Little Turquoise”, was born in 1951. She is half Jemez and half Laguna; she is a member of the water clan. She began making pottery at the age of 16. Fannie has been hand coiling clay sculptures and masks for over 10 years, prior to that she made several shapes of hand coiled pottery using traditional ancient methods which were passed down to her from several members in her family.
Fannie was inspired to learn the art of working with clay by assisting her mother, Carrie Reid Loretto make her pottery. She gathers all her natural pigments from within the Jemez Pueblo. Then; she grinds, cleans, mixes the clay, hand pinches, shapes, paints, and fires her creations, outdoors in the traditional way.
“The masks are my favorite to create because it’s like drawing in 3-D, when I make them.”