Samuel Manymules was born into the Bitterwater Clan of the Red Horse Nakai Diné Clan in August, 1963. For many years Samuel did what he needed to get along. Jobs that still stick out in his mind were jewelry making, driving a tow truck and working at an auto dealership trying to make ends meet. He'd grown up the Navajo way: working cornfields and tending flocks. Then he started finding pot sherds on the ground in the area around where he lived and worked. They intrigued him enough that he taught himself how to make pottery the traditional way. He says he got his inspiration in the early days by looking at the pottery of Christine McHorse and Joseph Lonewolf. After ten years of dabbling with clay, he perfected a thin wall version of Dineh pottery and with his typical high fire practice, he's since elevated Dineh pottery to a whole new level.

Samuel has a long list of accomplishments and awards in the pottery world, the basics of the list cover most of a printed page as he has earned many prominent awards from some of the most distinguished juried competitions in the southwestern United States.

Samuel tells us he builds his pots in his mind before he ever puts his hands in the clay. "I spend most of my days envisioning the shapes, planning how to make a vision a reality, and imagining how the completed pot will look," he says. In keeping with Dineh tradition, Samuel neither paints nor carves his pieces. He knows his clay so well he pushes and presses it into the forms he wants, creating the architectural angles of a master and decorating without actually decorating: he leaves the making of color variations to the firing process where he says the Hand of the Creator makes its mark.

Pieces of Samuel's work can be found at the Denver Art Museum, the Museum of Man in San Diego, Harvard's Peabody-Essex Museum in Salem, MA, the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, NM, the Arizona State Museum in Tucson, AZ, and at other institutions.

Some of the Awards Samuel has Earned

• 2002 - Best in Pottery, Heard Museum Indian Art Fair & Market
• 2003 - Judge's Choice ribbons from Susan Folwell and David McFadden, Heard Museum Indian Art Fair & Market
• 2003 - Best of Utilitarian Vessels and two Second Place ribbons, Santa Fe Indian Market
• 2004 - Best of Pottery, Heard Musem Indian Art Fair & Market
• 2004 - One Second Place and two Third Place ribbons, Santa Fe Indian Market
• 2005 - Ribbon of Recognition, Heard Museum Indian Art Fair & Market
• 2005 - Best of Melon Forms, two First Place ribbons and one Third Place ribbon, Santa Fe Indian Market
• 2005 - Best of Pottery, Southwest Museum Indian Marketplace, Los Angeles
• 2006 - Best of Melon Forms, Heard Museum Indian Art & Market
• 2006 - First Place ribbon, Santa Fe Indian Market
• 2006 - Best of Pottery, Southwest Museum Indian Marketplace, Los Angeles
• 2007 - Second Place, Unpainted Traditional Pottery, Heard Museum Indian Art Fair & Market
• 2007 - First Place and Second Place ribbons, Santa Fe Indian Market
• 2008 - Best of Pottery and a Second Place ribbon, Museum of Northern Arizona Navajo Show
• 2008 - Judges Choice Award and Second Place ribbon, Heard Museum Indian Art Fair & Market
• 2008 - First Place ribbon, Santa Fe Indian Market
• 2008 - Best of Unpainted Traditional Pottery, Heard Museum Indian Art Fair & Market
• 2009 - Bill Beaver Memorial Award and Best of Pottery, Musem of Northern Arizona
• 2009 - First Place ribbon for Unpainted Traditional Pottery, Santa Fe Indian Market
• 2010 - Best of Division and a First Place ribbon, Santa Fe Indian Market
• 2012 - First Place and Second Place, Traditional Unpainted Pottery, Pitch finish, any form, Santa Fe Indian Market
• 2013 - First Place, Pottery Division B: Traditional Pottery, Heard Museum Indian Art Fair & Market
• 2013 - Best in Category, First Place and Second Place, Traditional Unpainted Pottery, Pitch finish, any form, Santa Fe Indian Market
• 2019 - Second Place, Traditional Unpainted Pottery, Pitch finish, any form, Santa Fe Indian Market