Montoya, Clara

Deafened during childhood, but never attended a school for the deaf or learned sign language; she depended on speaking and lipreading Tewa, the native language of her pueblo. Taught to make black-on-black pottery by her hearing sisters, Clara specialized in polishing her sisters' work, though she did make some of her own. Her sister Maria Montoya Martinez was world-famous for her pottery work, but her deaf sister's (Clara's) contribution to that work was not generally recognized.