Tammie Allen

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."^[3]

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.^[4]

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.^[2]

• "Pottery Demonstration at Baylor Strecker Museum"
• "Jicarilla Apache Pottery"