The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 13, 2025

Maria

2021

Rose B. Simpson

(Santa Clara Pueblo, b. 1983)
publisher

Tamarind Institute

printer

Valpuri Remling

(Finnish, active 2000s)
America
color lithograph (diptych)
Overall: 91.4 x 116.4 cm (36 x 45 13/16 in.)
Anne Elizabeth Wilson Memorial Fund 2023.14
Catalogue raisonné: Tamarind 21-305 and 21-305A
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The black-on-black pottery technique represented on this car's exterior was invented at San Ildefonso Pueblo around 1920 by the famed potter Maria Martinez and her husband, Julian.

Description

Multimedia artist Rose B Simpson restored and customized a 1985 Chevy El Camino as an homage to the lowrider culture of her home, Santa Clara Pueblo, during her training at the Northern New Mexico College Automotive Science program. Incorporating the classic black-on-black technique of San Ildefonso pottery across the car’s finish, she named the car Maria after the famed San Ildefonso Pueblo potter and inventor of the technique, Maria Martinez (1887–1980). Since then, Simpson has used the car in performance; she also created this printed diptych, which captures both sides of the automotive sculpture, carefully hand drawn by Simpson on a lithographic plate.
  • ?-2023
    (Tamarind Institute, Albuquerque, NM), sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    March 6, 2023-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Fellah, Nadiah Rivera. Rose B. Simpson: Strata. Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2024. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 39-40
  • {{cite web|title=Maria|url=false|author=Rose B. Simpson, Tamarind Institute, Valpuri Remling|year=2021|access-date=13 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2023.14