Anita Toya

Anita Toya was born in Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico. Anita began working in clay under the guidance of her mother, Mary Elizabeth Toya in the 1970s. Anita works in the traditional way, gathering her gifts from Mother Earth. The flesh color on her storytellers and figurative pieces is the clay itself, which is dark brown before firing. Her black pigment is boiled wild spinach and black rock, which is strained prior to use. The red clay comes from Jemez Pueblo itself. The white pigment is the hardest to obtain, found in the mountains.