Tammie Allen

Tammie Allen (born 1964) is a contemporary Native American potter, enrolled in the Jicarilla Apache Nation.

Early life and education

Born in Blanco, New Mexico, Tammy Allen belongs to the Jicarilla Apache tribe, specifically, the Ollero Clan (Mountain People). She is a direct descendant of Jicarilla Apache chiefs and Chief Ouray of the Ute Tribe, who was instrumental in helping establish the Jicarilla Apache reservation.

Allen attended Coronado High School in Gallina, New Mexico. She earned a Bachelor of Humanities degree in 2000 from the College of Santa Fe, in Santa Fe, New Mexico,"Artist Resume.
Walking Spirit
1 Jan 2009 (accessed 10 Jan 2009). graduating with honors.

Allen is a non-lineage micaceous pottery artist, that is, she does not come from a long line of Jicarilla Apache potters. Nonetheless she is interested in sustaining this tradition for the next generation of Jicarilla Apaches.

Art career

Although she had already been working in ceramics, in 1995, Allen began experimenting with micaceous clay. Micaceous pottery has a glittery surface, due to the presence of mica flakes in the clay. She wanted to keep the Jicarilla Apache pottery tradition alive by using historical Native American pottery construction techniques.

She exhibited her new work in Native American art galleries and museums. The pottery she presented did not resemble typical micaceous cooking pots. The Jicarilla Apache author Veronica E. Tiller wrote that Allen makes "thin, balanced, highly polished, engaging shapes of pottery using strong lines to help her convey her philosophy that life is continual, with a series of positive and negative events."

Allen sold her first pieces to the Cottonwood Trading Post, in San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico, the Denver Museum of Natural History, Denver, Colorado, and Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian. This introduction has paved way for other Jicarilla Apache potters, since there were very few practicing ceramics at the time.Hayes, Allen and John Blom. ''Southwestern Pottery, Anasazi to Zuni.'' Flagstaff, AZ: Northland Publishing, 1996. Pages 172-3. .

In 2005, Allen was accepted and entered her first Santa Fe Indian Market. During this show, she won first and third place prizes in her division. Currently, she is represented by several galleries and conducts demonstrations and workshops about pottery making.

Notes

External links

* "Pottery Demonstration at Baylor Strecker Museum

* "Jicarilla Apache Pottery

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Tammie
1964 births
Living people
American women ceramists
American ceramists
Jicarilla Apache people
Artists from New Mexico
Native American potters
Native American women artists
Women potters
People from San Juan County, New Mexico
21st-century American women artists
21st-century ceramists
20th-century Native American women
20th-century Native Americans
21st-century Native American women
21st-century Native Americans