Beatriz Esperanza Malaver Zthocumbi
Beatriz is the President of Sinchi Warmi and the wife of one of the school teachers in Santa Ana.  She recently came to Santa Ana from another village and is quickly making friends and lending her time to work alongside the women of Santa Ana in their initiatives. She has four children: two boys and two girls.  When she was 8 years old, she began learning the art of pottery-making from her aunt.  Beatriz sells pottery and raises chickens to be able to send her two older children to attend middle school and high school. She has an extremely rich imagination for depicting her surroundings on her pottery – the jungle, the rivers, and her new community of Santa Ana.

Clara Gladis Vargas Ilianis
Gladis has five children and is currently raising two of her grand children.  Her mother taught her how to make pottery when she was a very, very little girl and she has always enjoyed it.  Gladis came to Santa Ana from Canelos and her pottery reflects the traditional style and shape that is common in the pottery there.  Gladis says that originally the pottery was not painted.  Then people started painting the pottery with their fingers in bold, broad strokes.  Now the traditional method of painting involves the artist taking some of her own hair and fashioning it into a brush.  Gladis started painting her pottery with her fingers and transitioned to a brush made from her hair when she was 25.  Now it is Gladis’s turn to pass on the tradition of pottery making.  She has been teaching her daughter Marisole, age 20.  While Gladis prefers to paint the most traditional design, Marisole has developed her own unique style with her gift for drawing and painting plants and animals.

Etelvina Clara Gualinga Machua
Etelvina is a single mother with five children, four boys and one girl.  She learned to make pottery when she was 10 years old and has in turn taught her own daughter.  Etelvina came to Santa Ana from a village deeper in the Amazon called Sara Yaku that is only accessible by plane.  She came to Santa Ana when she was 17 to marry her husband.  They were since separated and Etelvina runs a small store and “bar” in Santa Ana.  Her adult daughter now lives in Puyo, a nearby town, and makes pottery to sell as a way to help her mother.  Etelvina has much experience with ceramics and is extremely generous in lending her time to teach other women of Sinchi Warmi how to make the pottery.

Maria Veronica Zabala Wama
Maria has eleven children, three of whom have died leaving eight who are living.  She has 26 grandchildren.  She was never officially married but was matched by her parents and given away when she was 12 to her husband Walter, 25 years old at the time.  She had her first child when she was 17.  Her husband is now 55, the “grandfather” of the village, and one of its founding members.  She learned how to make pottery from her mother when she was very young.  Her mother only made traditional designs and did not know how to paint.  Maria illustrates the natural world around her in her pottery in a painterly style that is uniquely her own.  She finds the painting in particular to be more difficult now that her eyesight is deteriorating.

Sonya Clemencia Atsamp Pinchupa
Sonya has lived in Santa Ana for 10 years.  She is originally from a town in Macas Provice called Santa Teresa Lucia but came to Santa Ana when she married Daniel, one of Maria Zabala’s sons. Sonya and Daniel have four children and another on the way. Sonya’s mother made traditional jewelry but not pottery, so Sonya is only now started to learn pottery from other women in Santa Ana. So far she has only sold jewelry to Sacha Yaku, but is hoping to make more jewelry and start selling potter as well.