Paintings

At the age of 14, Pablita became the first full-time female student in Dorothy Dunn's art class at the Santa Fe Indian School. Dorothy's classroom style became known as "The Studio". Early on, Pablita was encouraged to paint what she saw in her Pueblo life. Out of Dorothy Dunn's class came such other well known artists as: Allan Houser, Fred Kabotie, Narcisco Abeyta "Ha So-Deh", Ben Quintana, Harrison Begay, Joe H. Herrera, Quincy Tahoma, Andy Tsihnajinnie, Eva Mirabel, Tonita Lujan, Pop-Chalee, Oscar Howe, and Geronima Cruz Montoya.  While it has been said that all of these artists created the bridge that would take native art to the rest of world, it was Alan Houser and Pablita Velarde that made the most impact on the other side of that bridge. Widely accepted as the most significant female Native Painter, Pablita is without a doubt the most culturally significant female American painter of all time.

Pablita began her professional art career under the WPA program in 1938 and her representational depiction of Indian life during the construction of Bandolier National Monument has become legendary. Well known to Indian art collectors for several decades, she painted in the "traditional" style and accurately portrayed Indian life and culture. Her paintings very quickly became sought after and through her constant touring and show presence, became highly collectable.

Her "Earth Pigments" - an extremely labor intensive technique that she developed and advanced, involved collecting rocks and minerals that had color, grinding them to a fine powder on metate and mano and then using this powder as the pigment that she would make into paint. The result is breathtaking. These are perhaps the most impressive of all her works, and demand the highest prices.

Pablita Velarde won almost every Native art award - many times over - and has had a place in almost every major Native museum show and collection in America. In 1953, she was the first woman to receive the Grand Purchase Award at the Philbrook Museum of Art's Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Indian Painting. In 1954 the French government honored her with the Palmes Académiques for excellence in art.

Painting right to the end of her life, her final painting - "Two Parrots", finished just four short months before her death - was as impressive as anything she painted throughout her 88 years.