Geronima Cruz Montoya
Gerónima Cruz Montoya (Potsunu) (September 22, 1915 – January 2, 2015) was an Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo artist and educator from New Mexico. She taught Native American artists at the Studio at the Santa Fe Indian School.
Also recorded as Potsunu · Gerónima Cruz · Po-Su-Nu · Jerry Cruz Montoya
Geronima Cruz Montoya
- Name
- Gerónima Cruz Montoya
- Birth Name
- Gerónima Cruz
- Born
- 22 September 1915
- Birthplace
- Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico
- Died
- 2 January 2015
- Place of death
- Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Field
- Painting
- Training
- The Studio School
- Awards
- Santa Fe Living Treasure (2004),
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- painter · teacher
- Education
- Santa Fe Indian School · Claremont College
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Geronima Cruz Montoya. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q23071178 · wikipedia · Gerónima Cruz Montoya
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
The documentary record
Statements marked “Documentary record” are set in the article beside the passage they confirm. Each is read from the authority records of the institutions named here; select “Prove” to see the record it was read from, where in that record, and when.
Institutions cited
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Not stated by the sources cited: nationality
Complete reading chain (JSON)In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Gerónima Cruz Montoya • Birth Name — Gerónima Cruz • Born — 22 September 1915 • Birthplace — Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico • Died — 2 January 2015 • Place of death — Albuquerque, New Mexico • Citizenship — Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo and American • Field — Painting • Training — The Studio School • Style — Studio Flatstyle painting • Awards — Santa Fe Living Treasure (2004),
Documentary record
Geronima Cruz Montoya (born 1915) is documented in the authority records of the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Geronima Cruz Montoya was born in 1915.
Early life and education
Early life and education
Her parents were Pablo Cruz and Crucita Trujillo, both of Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico, where she was born. Her Pueblo name is "Potsunu", meaning "shell", and it is with this name that she signs her work. Her mother was a well-respected potter, and it was from her that Montoya learned the basics. She then studied at the Santa Fe Indian School with Dorothy Dunn, from which she graduated as the valedictorian in her class in 1935, and at Claremont College.
Career
Career
Montoya taught painting at the Santa Fe Indian School from 1937 until 1961. While Dorothy Dunn was known for developing the Studio program at the Indian School, 1932–37, Montoya was the first Native American to teach painting there for over 24 years. One of the students at the School during her time there was Tonita Peña's son Joe Herrera.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Ohkay Owingeh.
Birth place
Albuquerque.
Death place
Death and legacy
For her work as both teacher and painter, Montoya was awarded the 1994 Art and Cultural Achievement Award by the National Museum of the American Indian. In 1963 Montoya started an art education program at Ohkay Owingeh and in 1968 she founded the Oke'Oweege Artistic Cooperative there. Montoya died on January 2, 2015, at the age of 99.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Gerónima Cruz Montoya, revision 1359517778 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Geronima Cruz Montoya. Santa Fe Living Treasures: Elder Stories.
- 2.Heller, Jules and Nancy G, Heller, ed., "North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary" Garland Reference Library of the Humanities (Vol. 1219), Garland Publishing Company, New York & London, 1995
- 3.Artist Gerónima Cruz Montoya (P´otsúnú) Walks On at 99. Native News Online.
- 4.Gilbert, Dorothy B., ed., Who's Who in American Art, The American Federation of Arts, R.R. Bowker Company, NY, 1963
- 5.Brody, J.J. Indian Painters and White Patrons. University of New Mexico Press. 128. 1971.
- 6.Berlo, Janet C. Native North American Art. Oxford University Press. 219–223. 1998.
- 7.Schaaf, Gregory. St. James Guide to Native North American Artists. St. James Press. 389. 1998. 1558622217.
- 8.Broder, Patricia. Earth Songs, Moon Dreams : Paintings by American Indian Women. St. Martin's Press. 42. 1999. 0312205341.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 1
- Jeanne Shutes and Jill Mellick, The Worlds of P'otsunu: Geronima Cruz Montoya of San Juan Pueblo, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. .
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 27 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Paintings
19,456 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Germán Hernández AmoresArtist
- German TatarinovArtist
- Gerolamo ForaboscoArtist
- Gerolamo IndunoArtist
- Gerónimo Antonio de EzquerraArtist
- Geronimo GerardiArtist
- Gerónimo RamírezArtist
- Gerret Willemsz HedaArtist
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Geronima Cruz Montoya?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.