# Mary Coriz Lovato (1936–2024)

Kewa Pueblo silversmith. Born to the Corn Clan in 1936. Daughter of Santiago Leo Coriz. Pioneer of shell-mosaic inlay in the late 1950s — a style that has since become the defining contemporary Kewa Pueblo signature. Mother of seven, including the Thunderbird-inlay master Isaac Coriz (1977–2022). Carrier of the Coriz-family healing-hand design across three generations. Mary passed in February 2024; this is a memorial biography.

"I'm praying for everybody — not for myself, but for the whole universe. I talk to my jewelry when I make it. I don't just make them to make them. After it's done, I say, 'Whoever it may go to, may they have strength, may they have a good, happy life.'"

— Mary Coriz Lovato, Garland's of Sedona biography

A note on the name

Mary Coriz Lovato is sometimes referred to as "Mary Lovato" (her married name) or as "Mary Coriz" (using only her father's family name). She is a distinct person from a different Kewa heishi-bead artist also named Mary Coriz — also no longer with us — who was a master of hand-cut hand-ground heishi. This page is about the silversmith and shell-mosaic-inlay master born in 1936, mother of Isaac Coriz.

If you came here looking for the heishi master, please ask us — we'll help you find the right family.

Heritage and home

Mary Coriz Lovato was born in 1936 at Kewa Pueblo, the Indigenous nation along the Rio Grande in north-central New Mexico that, until recently, was widely known by its Spanish-given name Santo Domingo Pueblo. Many tribal members are equally comfortable with either name, and we use Kewa Pueblo as our default with Santo Domingo in parentheses for readers searching the older name.

She is a member of the Corn Clan — one of the foundational matrilineal clans of the Pueblo, whose name carries the meaning of sustenance, growth, and the agricultural cycles that have organized Pueblo life along the Rio Grande for more than a thousand years.

Kewa Pueblo is internationally recognized for two craft traditions in particular: heishi beadwork (hand-cut, hand-ground shell, turquoise, jet, and pipestone disc beads, drilled and strung into strands of remarkable evenness) and mosaic inlay (small, hand-shaped tiles of shell and stone fitted into geometric or pictorial patterns on a sculpted backing). Mary's life's work has been to extend the second of these — and, in doing so, she helped establish what the wider world now calls the modern Kewa Pueblo mosaic-inlay style.

Her father — the silversmith Santiago Leo Coriz

Mary's father was Santiago Leo Coriz — recorded in gallery archives under his fuller name and known in TSkies' live shows by the shorter form Leo Coriz. He was a working Kewa silversmith of the mid-twentieth century. Among the design vocabularies he carried was a particular form of the healing hand — the palm-out hand motif found across Southwest jewelry traditions, but in the Coriz family rendered with a specific shape, proportions, and meaning that his daughter, granddaughter, and great-grandsons have continued to make.

In TSkies' live show recordings, the Coriz healing-hand has been described in plain terms: "Runs in the family. Passed down from grandfather to his mother to Isaac." That is the design Mary received from her father and that she carried forward through her own work and through her son Isaac's. It is one of the most well-documented intergenerational design lineages in modern Pueblo jewelry.

The shell-mosaic innovation — late 1950s

In her own words, recorded by Bischoff's Gallery in their biography of her practice:

"I came up with the shell mosaic work myself. I started in the late '50s."

This is a substantial claim, and it is well-supported by the evolution of Kewa Pueblo jewelry in the second half of the twentieth century. Before Mary's experiments, the dominant Kewa decorative tradition was heishi (the bead format) and flat shell-and-turquoise inlay of the kind that dates to before contact, including the Depression-era Thunderbird pieces made of recovered battery-cell shells and gypsum-board backings during the difficult years of the 1930s. What Mary built — the shell-mosaic style as it is now widely practiced at Kewa — combined that older inlay vocabulary with sculpted three-dimensional silver settings, hand-cut shell tiles fitted to a curved base, and a refinement of color and pattern that elevated the form from utilitarian into fine art.

Three generations later, that style is the dominant signature of contemporary Kewa Pueblo jewelry. When you see a Kewa silversmith's piece with shaped silver perimeter, hand-cut shell-and-stone interior tiles, and a layered visual depth — Mary's contribution is in the room.

The Coriz-family healing hand — three generations carried, the design lives on

The healing-hand design that Santiago Leo Coriz worked in mid-century has been carried across three generations of family practice, and continues today through the surviving members of the family:

1. Santiago Leo Coriz — the originator and the silversmith Mary learned from. 2. Mary Coriz Lovato — Leo's daughter. Carried the design forward, refined it through her shell-mosaic vocabulary, and passed it to her children. Mary passed in February 2024. 3. Isaac Coriz (1977–2023) — Mary's youngest son. Carried the family healing-hand throughout his lifetime. Isaac signed his own pieces with a small dot variant added to the design — his individual mark within the family form. On certain Thunderbird-and-healing-hand fusions, he rendered the thumb of the hand as an eye — a personal artistic decision documented in TSkies' live shows. Isaac passed in October 2022.

The healing-hand design lives on through Mary's surviving family. Her older son, Anthony Lovato, is an accomplished silversmith carrying the family practice forward. Mary's grandsons Joel Pajarito and Cordell Pajarito continue in the jewelry-making tradition. Whether the healing-hand specifically has carried into a fourth generation through them is a question we keep open and would honor an artist's words on.

The healing hand is a symbol that appears across many Southwest traditions, and TSkies takes care not to claim a universal meaning. What we can say plainly is this: the Coriz family healing-hand has a documented family lineage, and when you receive one, you are receiving part of a story that has been carried in the same family for more than half a century.

Mary in her own words — the prayer at the bench

The most distinctive thing in Mary's own framing of her practice is that the work is a prayer. From her Bischoff's Gallery biography:

"I'm praying for everybody. I talk to my jewelry when I make it."

After a piece is finished, Mary blesses it — with the hope that "Whoever it may go to, may they have strength, may they have a good, happy life."

She also describes why she continues to make Pueblo jewelry in traditional forms:

"We have kept traditional jewelry going here because it is worn for our dances."

The jewelry isn't separate from the rest of her community's life. It is worn on feast days. It is worn in ceremony. It is worn at home. Mary's pieces were not made to sit in a museum case — they were made to be alive on a person, doing the work jewelry does when it sits against skin and is moved with the body.

This is the framing TSkies leads with whenever we present a Mary Coriz Lovato piece, or a piece by anyone in the Coriz family who has continued her practice. It is not a marketing construction — it is what she has told us, in her own words, about why she does the work.

Mary's children — the next generation

Mary raised seven children, several of whom became silversmiths and jewelers in their own right. The most prominent in TSkies' direct relationship was her youngest son, Isaac Coriz — born November 2, 1977, the Kewa Pueblo Thunderbird-inlay master who carried the healing-hand design with his individual dot signature throughout his lifetime. Isaac passed in October 2022.

In a TSkies live show recorded before Isaac's passing, host Ungie (Ungelbah Dávila-Shivers) summarized his lineage in the simplest possible terms:

"Isaac Coriz — the Thunderbird master. He is a generational artist. His mother Mary taught him the inlay art form, and in his interview that we did with him several years ago, he says that she gave him the design of the Thunderbird."

The Thunderbird at Kewa Pueblo carries its own deep history — including the Depression-era origin story of the 1930s, when Kewa silversmiths fashioned Thunderbird pieces out of recovered battery-cell shells and gypsum-board backings during the years when traditional silver and turquoise were inaccessible. That story is documented at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque and is part of the cultural ground Mary's family has worked on for generations.

In addition to Isaac, Anthony Lovato is Mary's older son and an accomplished silversmith carrying the family tradition forward today. Mary's grandsons through the Pajarito side — Joel Pajarito and Cordell Pajarito — continue the family's connection to the work. Mary's grandmother, Lupita Coriz, taught Isaac heishi technique; the family is silversmiths up and down the line on every side.

T.Skies and the Coriz family — a long friendship

T.Skies' relationship with the Coriz family is personal, not transactional. Mateo James first met Mary in 2015 and visited her home at Kewa Pueblo several times a year afterward, especially during feast-day visits to the Pueblo. With Isaac, the friendship was monthly: lunches together, regular conversations, the easy rhythm of two people who liked each other's company outside of any commercial frame.

When Isaac passed in October 2022, T.Skies mourned a friend. When Mary passed in February 2024, the family lost its quiet anchor, and we lost a teacher whose ethic — make jewelry as a prayer — has left a permanent mark on how we think about this work.

Mary's own pieces — when we are fortunate enough to have them — are presented with the lineage and the prayer-at-the-bench named openly. They are priced as the heirloom-grade work they are. We do not generalize her designs into "Southwest hand pendants" or "shaman's hands" — those framings are inappropriate to her practice and we do not use them.

Pieces by Anthony Lovato (Mary's older son), and pieces by Mary's grandsons in the Pajarito family, continue to come through T.Skies and are presented with full family lineage attribution. The Coriz/Lovato/Pajarito line is one of the directories T.Skies will continue to honor and document for as long as we are in this work.

If you would like to be notified when a Mary Coriz Lovato piece, an Isaac Coriz piece, or any Coriz-family piece comes through the gallery, please join our Inner Circle — we hold a 30-minute early-access window for members on heirloom-grade pieces from artists in this register.

How to recognize a Mary Coriz Lovato piece

There is no single hallmark stamp universally associated with Mary's work — Pueblo silversmiths of her generation often signed in script or simply on a piece-by-piece basis, and provenance for her work is typically established through the gallery or family chain of custody rather than a stamp.

What you can look for in identifying a Mary Coriz Lovato piece is:

- Shell-mosaic inlay with hand-cut shell tiles fitted to a curved or sculpted silver base - Strong design discipline — the tiles fit each other with very little visible gap, and the pattern is internally consistent across the piece - Healing-hand designs with the family proportions and silhouette (her father Leo's design vocabulary, refined through her own hand) - Provenance documentation from a reputable gallery, a museum, or directly from the Coriz family

If you are considering a piece attributed to Mary Coriz Lovato and you would like a second opinion on authenticity, T.Skies is happy to assist — we have decades of relationship with the family and access to lineage knowledge that goes beyond what is publicly published.

Frequently asked questions

Is Mary Coriz Lovato the same person as the Mary Coriz who made heishi?

No — they are different artists. The Mary Coriz Lovato of this page is a shell-mosaic-inlay master born in 1936, mother of Isaac Coriz. The other Mary Coriz was a hand-cut hand-ground heishi-bead artist, also of Kewa Pueblo, who is no longer with us. Both belong to the broad Kewa silversmithing community but to different family lines.

What does the Coriz-family healing hand mean?

The healing hand is a symbol that appears across many Southwest traditions, and meanings can vary by family, pueblo, and individual artist. The Coriz-family healing-hand has been passed in the same family for three generations — from Leo Coriz to his daughter Mary, and then forward to her son Isaac. We honor what the artists themselves say about the meaning of their pieces, and we do not impose a generic interpretation. If you'd like to know more, the best path is to ask the artist directly the next time they're on a TSkies live show, or to write to us and we'll convey your question.

Are Mary Coriz Lovato pieces still being made?

No. Mary passed in February 2024, and Isaac passed in October 2022. The pieces that remain in circulation today were made during their lifetimes and are sold as heirloom-grade work through galleries that knew the artists — including T.Skies. Available pieces are intermittent and best inquired about directly. Commissioned work in the Coriz-family tradition can be arranged through Mary's surviving family — particularly her son Anthony Lovato, who continues the practice. Contact us to discuss.

Can I commission a piece in the Coriz-family tradition?

Yes — through Mary's surviving family. Anthony Lovato (her older son) is an accomplished silversmith continuing the family practice. Mary's grandsons in the Pajarito line also work in the tradition. T.Skies can make introductions to serious collectors. Direct commissions for Mary's or Isaac's work are no longer possible.

Does T.Skies sell pieces by Mary's other children or grandchildren?

Yes. Anthony Lovato (Mary's older son) is the senior carrier of the family practice today, and pieces by him come through T.Skies regularly. We have noted the work of grandsons Joel Pajarito and Cordell Pajarito in the broader Coriz/Lovato/Pajarito family and stock pieces by them when available. Existing pieces by Isaac Coriz are presented as memorial-grade work. Available inventory shifts week to week — check our live shows or the website's Coriz family collection when we have a category page live.

Related at T.Skies

- Isaac Coriz — Kewa Pueblo Thunderbird-Inlay Master (1977–2022) — Mary's youngest son. Memorial bio in development. - Anthony Lovato — Kewa Pueblo Silversmith — Mary's older son, senior carrier of the family practice today. (directory page in development) - The Coriz Family Healing Hand — three-generation design lineage, our cultural-knowledge file - Kewa Pueblo silversmithing tradition — broader context for shell-mosaic inlay and Depression-era Thunderbird origins (directory page in development) - The T.Skies Artist Co-Op — our 501(c)(3) preserving handmade Native American and Southwestern jewelry traditions

Sources

This biography was assembled from:

- Bischoff's Gallery biography of Mary Coriz Lovato (bischoffsgallery.com) — primary source for Mary's own quotes, year of birth, clan, and the late-1950s shell-mosaic origin story - TSkies live show recordings — direct video of host Ungie (Ungelbah Dávila-Shivers) on Mary's lineage to Isaac (transcript ID 8GJGg551iKg, 2022-07-13) and Mateo James on the Coriz-family healing hand (transcript ID EON3AjJlAfk) - Garlands of Sedona (garlands.com/collections/santo-domingo-jewelry/leo-coriz) — for Leo Coriz's silversmithing context - Palms Trading (palmstrading.com/santo-domingo-jewelry/) — for Kewa-context summary on hand pendant traditions - Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (indianpueblo.org) — for Kewa Thunderbird Depression-era origin story

About the author

Mateo James is the founder of T.Skies and editor of the T.Skies Silversmith Directory — of Spanish and Indigenous descent, with Yaqui and Spanish lineage on his grandmother's side. Trained in traditional Southwestern silversmithing technique through long apprenticeship with Indigenous and Spanish-heritage masters, he writes the directory as an ongoing scholarly contribution to documenting the makers and lineages of Native American and Southwestern jewelry.

Mateo's relationship with the Coriz family began in 2015. His friendship with Isaac Coriz lasted from then until Isaac's passing in October 2022 — monthly lunches, regular visits to the Pueblo, an easy human friendship outside of any commercial frame. He visited Mary at her home several times each year through her passing in February 2024.

More about Mateo James →

A note on accuracy — and an invitation

We do our best to make every Silversmith Directory page accurate, respectful, and reflective of the artist and family it documents. If you knew Mary Coriz Lovato or her family personally, and you see something on this page that is not quite right — a date, a relationship, a name spelling, a story — we would be honored to hear from you and correct it.

Suggest a correction or addition →

This page is a living document. We update it whenever new authoritative sources come to light or whenever family or community members reach out. The version date below reflects the most recent revision.

This biography was prepared by Mateo James for T.Skies as part of our Silversmith Directory project — an ongoing effort to give named, lineage-honoring biographies to the Native American and Southwestern silversmiths whose work passes through our gallery. We do not claim to speak for the Pueblo or for the artist; where Mary's own words are quoted they are sourced from her published biographies (Bischoff's Gallery + Garland's of Sedona). All cultural-attribution claims are made to be IACA-clean. We honor that Mary and Isaac have passed; this is a memorial biography written in their tradition with the family's continuing work in mind. Last updated 2026-04-28.