Pueblo Direct Blog

10 Year Anniversary!

2010-03-08T10:25:00.000-08:00

This year the Pueblo Direct family celebrates 10 wonderful years of business. Started in 2000, in a small bedroom with an aging computer and used digital camera, Pueblo Direct has grown to become one of the largest online suppliers of Native American art, filling thousands of orders each year and shipping to customers all over the world.

The founder, Karen Hooks, quit her job working in hotel guest services to pursue her dream of running her own business. Having been born and raised in New Mexico, surrounded by Native American culture and art, she decided to share her love of the Southwest with the world. Within a year, Karen's husband, David, had left his job as an auto mechanic to work with her in the business that had quickly become successful. Karen's vision of providing great customer service and high quality, authentic Native American crafts at competitive prices has helped the business to continue to grow year after year, even through the current economic crisis.

In 2002, Karen hired her younger, smarter and better looking brother, Drew Stair, to take over shipping and product photography. In 2005, Karen and David passed the company's reigns to Drew while they focused on accounting and marketing. In 2006, Drew's new bride, Lindsey, joined the family business and brought her love of customer service and efficiency to the company.

Today, Karen is a full time mom, homeschooling her two daughters, Jillian, 9, and Halli, 6, and part-time accountant for the business. Her husband, David, has since moved on to pursue another career. Drew and Lindsey Stair, with the support of the owners, continue to run the company full time, spending their days helping their wonderful customers and continually seeking out new Native American artists and their crafts.

As we continue into the future, we look forward to sharing our love of the Southwest while providing the best service and prices in the industry. The Pueblo Direct family would like to say thank you to our customers, artists, friends and suppliers who have helped make the company what it is today.

Celebrate with us this month at PuebloDirect.com and enjoy 20% off our large selection of Native American jewelry, pottery, kachinas, sand art, carvings, artifacts and more! Use coupon code 10years during checkout to receive your discount! PLUS, all customers who use this code will automatically be entered to win one of ten $100 gift certificates issued at the end of the month!*

*Retail orders only

Artist Spotlight: Daryl Candelaria

2008-11-03T09:46:00.000-08:00

Daryl Candelaria is a San Felipe Pueblo artist who creates contemporary shard pottery inspired by prehistoric, historic and contemporary Pueblo designs. We've recently acquired two of his amazing pieces, and we wanted to share a little bit of background info on this talented artist. Daryl was gracious enough to sit down with me and share his story.

Question: How old are you?

Answer: I am 37 years old.

Question: How long have you been an active potter?

Answer: I have been potting for about 10 years now.

Question: Where did you get the idea of combing shards to make your pottery?

Answer: My idea of creating shard pots came from finding broken pottery shards walking among Pueblo ruins and coming across shards around my pueblo. My shards depict prehistoric, historic and contemporary styles of pueblo pottery.

Question: Who taught you to pot?

Answer: My maternal grandmother Juanita Toledo from Jemez Pueblo and my mom Sara Candelaria both taught me the basics of pottery making. I currently make pottery from clay obtained at San Felipe Pueblo which is where my father is from and where I reside today.

Question: What is your favorite part of pottery making?

Answer: My favorite part is forming the piece as I find it very soothing and relaxing and just seeing the piece come to life is a gratifying experience in itself.

Question: Have you won any awards?

Answer: I have won numerous awards for my work. I have taken 1st place awards at the Santa Fe Indian Market as well as numerous 2nd, 3rd and Honorable mention awards as well.

Question: Is there anything else you would like collector's to know about you?

Answer: As an accomplished potter, I have had the opportunity to show my work in a number of shows including exhibitions in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Denver, Phoenix, Scottsdale and Honolulu. I was also invited to participate in the World Ceramic Exhibition representing the United States in 2001 in Seoul, South Korea. My work is also in numerous private and museum collections including: the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe; the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque; the School of American Research in Santa Fe; the Denver Art Museum; the Mint Museum in Raleigh, North Carolina; and the Museum of Ceramics in Seoul, South Korea.

To see Daryl's work, visit PuebloDirect.com.

Santa Fe Indian Market 2008

2008-08-26T09:33:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the new Pueblo Direct blog! To kick things off, we thought you'd like to see some pictures from this year's Santa Fe Indian Market. The Indian Market is an annual show hosted by the Southwestern Association of Indian Arts. Every August, the Santa Fe plaza is closed off to traffic and hundreds of top artists come to sell their work. This is the largest and most important juried Indian art show in the world. This year there were almost 1400 booths with artists from all over the US, selling everything from jewelry and pottery to baskets and paintings. The 3 day event, which started off with a preview of ribbon winning art on Friday night, was filled with music and dance, traditional food and clothing, and some of the most amazing art under the sun. It's always a wonderful opportunity for us to meet some new talented artists, as well as catch up with our old friends. Enjoy the pics!

The crowds were out in full force.

And the booths went on and on.

Best of division carving by Hopi artist Adrian Nasafotie.

Acoma pottery by Sandra Victorino. See some more of her work on our site.

Koshare sculpture by Jemez artist Kathleen Wall.

Zuni pottery by Noreen Simplicio.

A jewelry artist shows his rings to a customer.

San Felipe artist Daryl Candelaria. We should have some of his pieces available soon.

Santa Clara pottery by Stella and Denise Chavarria.

Jemez pottery from the Toya family.

Mary Ortiz with her 1st place winning pottery sculpture.

Troy Sice with his large Nativity set (how this didn't win a ribbon is beyond me).

Junior Whiterock, Navajo sandpainter. His work is now available on our site.

There was no shortage of beautiful paintings.

Ready to dance.

More paintings.

Showing off some moves.

Sculptures by Adrian Wall.

Alabaster sculptures.

Hopi carvings by Gary Quotskuyva.

Hopi pottery from Dee Setalla and others.

Pottery from Madeline and Frances Naranjo.

It's a well known rule that everyone who goes to Santa Fe with a camera has to take a picture of the old church.

Pottery by Gloria Mahle

Elizabeth and Ray Trujillo pottery.

Clay sculptures from John Whiterock. Five of these are now available on our site.

Pyroengraver Lisa Chavez-Tafoya. This mask is available here. Her engraved gourd figures are available here.

A strong downpour on Sunday put an end to the show. Thankfully it didn't happen until almost 4pm.

Paulita Pacheco and family.

It wasn't a perfect ending, but it was an ending.