Maria Poveka Montoya Martinez (c. 1887 – July 20, 1980) was a Puebloan artist who created internationally known pottery.

[1][2] Martinez (born Maria Poveka Montoya), her husband Julian, and other family members, including her son Popovi Da, examined traditional Pueblo pottery styles and techniques to create pieces which reflect the Pueblo people's legacy of fine artwork and crafts.

[3] Maria Martinez was from the San Ildefonso Pueblo, a community located 20 miles northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

[5] During this time, Spanish tinware and Anglo enamelware had become readily available in the Southwestern United States, making the creation of traditional cooking and serving pots less necessary.

[9] Born in San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico to Tomas and Reyes Pena Montoya, Maria had four sisters: Maximiliana (Ana), Juanita, Desideria, and Clara.

[11]: 17 During an excavation in 1908 led by Edgar Lee Hewett, a professor of archaeology and the founder and director of the Museum of New Mexico in Santa Fe, examples of black-on-white biscuit ware pottery were discovered.

While searching through the sandy dirt and red clay of the New Mexico desert terrain, broken pieces of biscuit ware were uncovered.

It is a common misconception that "during the end of the 18th century, the use of plant pigments and finely powdered mineral substances became the preferred technique of painting and slowly caused the extinction of glazed pottery".

[12]: 8 In reality, the nearby inhabitants of Santa Clara Pueblo, had produced the highly burnished black pottery, since the 17th century.

Maria Martinez was known in the Tewa pueblo of San Ildefonso, New Mexico for making thin pots quickly.

[17] A long process of experimentation and overcoming challenges was required to successfully recreate the black-on-black ware pottery style to meet Maria's exacting standards.

Maria discovered, from observing the Tafoya family of Santa Clara Pueblo, who still practiced traditional pottery techniques, that smothering the fire surrounding the pottery during the outdoor firing process caused the smoke to be trapped and is deposited into the clay, creating various shades of black to gunmetal color.

"[18] She experimented with the idea that an "unfired polished red vessel which was painted with a red slip on top of the polish and then fired in a smudging fire at a relatively cool temperature would result in a deep glossy black background with dull black decoration.

"[12]: 36  Shards and sheep and horse manure placed around the outside and inside of the outdoor kiva-style adobe oven would give the pot a slicker matte finished appearance.

These guests asked to purchase black ware pottery, similar to Martinez's pots housed in a museum.

Her skill advanced with each pot, and her art began to cause quite a stir among collectors and developed into a business for the black ware pottery.

Creating black ware pottery is a long process that consists of many steps requiring patience and skill.

A fist-sized hole is made in the clay and equal amounts of gray-pink and blue sand are placed in the depression.

First, the pots were placed in the firing pit, and carefully covered with broken pieces of pottery and aluminum sheets or scrap metal.

But in order to make the blackware pottery that Maria was famous for, the fire was smothered with dry, powdered horse dung.

By doing this, the amount of oxygen within the kiln was greatly reduced, therefore creating a reduction atmosphere that caused the color of the pots to turn black.

After several hours, Martinez shifted the horse dung to extinguish the fire and bury the pots so they could cool slowly.

"[18] He discovered that painting designs with a guaco juice and clay mixture provided a matte-on-shiny decorative effect.

These patterns included birds, road runner tracks, rain, feathers, clouds, mountains, and zigzags or kiva steps.

[1]: 64  Even though Julian decorated the pots, only Maria claimed the work since pottery was still considered a woman's job in the Pueblo.

When in 1932 she was asked to teach by the government Indian school in Santa Fe, Martinez refused to do so: "I come and I work and they can watch," she stated.