About the Artist

Reportedly Barbara Johnson did not begin making pottery until the 1970's. Her mother, Mabel Sunn, a noted Maricopa potter instructed her daughter in the technique.

Barbara fashioned not only the black on redware, so often associated with Maricopa pottery but she also created the Mohave-inspired figurative pottery complete with beaded decoration. Barbara's process for firing her pottery is chronicled in Mary Fernald's book Dirt for Making Things: An Apprenticeship in Maricopa Pottery.