Angela Baca was born into Santa Clara Pueblo in 1927, the daughter of Severa Tafoya and Cleto Tafoya. She grew up learning the traditional way to make Pueblo pottery and experimented with different styles before settling on making primarily carved redware and blackware melon bowls around 1955. Her melon bowls won awards at the Santa Fe Indian Market in 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1992.

In 1984 some of Angela's melon bowls were featured in an exhibition at The Graphic Image in Milburn, NJ, alongside pieces by Maria Martinez, Popovi Da, Stella Chavarria, Blue Corn and others. Some of Angela's bowls are also on display in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC, and many other museums and galleries.

After raising and helping to raise many children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and teaching more than a few to make pottery, Angela passed on in 2014.