In the Media

Market Makers

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Market Makers

By Emily Van Cleve

Su Casa Magazine
Winter 2003 Vol. 9 No. 1
SuCasaMagazine.com

The Embodiment Of PrayerPeaceful Placitas, tucked in the foothills just north of Albuquerque, provides the perfect artistic environment for award-winning sculptor Joe Cajero. A member of the Pueblo of Jemez and a descendant of a long line of artists, Cajero conveys his culture’s deep spiritual beliefs through figures that abstractly represent the sacred. He premiered his latest piece, “The Embodiment of Prayer,” at the 2002 Santa Fe Indian Market. It won second place in its category.

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Medicine of Happiness

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Medicine of Happiness

By Linda Shockley
SANTA FEAN
August 1998 – Vol. 26 No. 7 Cover:

The cherubic koshares of sculptor Joe Cajero, Jr. capture all the delightful nuances of the pueblo tricksters: they clown, flirt, tease, and generally wreak havoc. Koshares are renowned for a well-developed sense of humor, and pueblo singers, dancers and guests all know not to turn their backs on a koshare during any feast day or celebration. A pueblo cross between circus clown and court jester, koshares rarely fail to elicit smiles with their white and brown, broad-striped bodies, adorned only with loin-type aprons, beads and the traditional jester-like cap.

“The medicine of the koshares stands for happiness. They take all the anguish away and bless you with positive energy. No dance would be successful without the koshares,” Cajero explains. “And if I see a koshare today, it is the same as seeing one from 1804. The koshares haven’t changed much.”

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Visions in Clay

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Visions in Clay

By Lynzee Webb
Taos Magazine
March/April 1998

The Koshari, in Native American tradition, is the prankster, a lighthearted character with a wicked wit who delights in playing tricks on the unsuspecting. Often feared by small children, the Koshari is the center of attention on feast days, when he runs among the crowds with his body painted in black-and-white stripes while children squeal and adults try not to become the focus of his attention. In the skillful hands of sculptor Joe V. Cajero, Jr., the Koshari is brought to life in clay with all the humor and gentleness of spirit associated with him.

Cajero, 27, never intended to become a sculptor. From the time he was a young boy he thought his path was to become a painter. But his mother was a sculptor and he watched her for many years in the home of Jemez Pueblo.

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