About the Artist

According to the Arizona State Museum, "In 1940, ASM curator Ted Sayles photographed Maricopa potter Ida Redbird of Laveen, Arizona on the Gila Indian Reservation as she demonstrated her pottery-making. Mrs. Redbird sold the Museum a set of her pottery tools, samples of raw materials and pottery examples of the stages in the paddle-and-anvil manufacturing process. Because few potters were active in 1940 and even fewer remain today, these artifacts and the photographic record form an invaluable resource for present and future generations."

In 1948 Arizona Highways featured Ida Redbird in a photo essay, documenting her and her pottery. She generously shared her talents through pottery-making sessions in schools, at Pueblo Grande Museum and at the Heard Museum. She continued making pottery until her death in 1971, when a tree under which she was sleeping fell on her.

Like many Native American potters, while her work is now very costly, she received very little money for them during her lifetime. Ida Redbird Elementary in Mesa, Arizona was named in her honor and the school proudly displays a small collection of her work.