Santa Clara Pottery | Andrea Fisher Fine Pottery

LuAnn Tafoya

Santa Clara/Pojoaque

Avanyu design carved into a red and tan jar

"People want to have your pots because of how you feel when you make your pots."

LuAnn Tafoya was born into Santa Clara Pueblo, the daughter of Margaret Tafoya and granddaughter of Sarafina Tafoya, LuAnn grew up learning how to make pottery from masters of the traditional craft. She began producing pottery in her late teens and the list of awards she has earned since then is very long.

LuAnn has participated in juried competitions at the Santa Fe Indian Market, Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, Gallup Intertribal Ceremonial and the Eight Northern Pueblos Arts & Crafts Show, earning awards almost every year since 1980. In 2003 she became only the second potter ever to earn both the Blue Ribbons for Best of Pottery and Best of Show at Santa Fe Indian Market.

Like her famous mother and grandmother, LuAnn specializes in larger pieces: red, black and brown, highly polished and exquisitely carved. She is also a master of the outdoor firing process.

Everything about the building, carving and firing of a large piece is different. The clay mix needs more temper, the building of the pot takes more time as it sometimes requires that a coil be allowed to dry some before the next coil is added. Polishing is a more drawn out process, as is carving. And then comes the most dangerous part of the process: the final firing. LuAnn has mastered them all.

LuAnn also learned to make pottery in the San Juan style (San Juan/Ohkay Owingeh has a very distinctive traditional style) and has earned awards for some of those pieces, too.

LuAnn has been a featured artist in books and exhibitions like The Legacy of Generations, Fourteen Families in Pueblo Pottery and Margaret Tafoya: A Tewa Potter's Heritage & Legacy. Some of her work is on display at the Heard Museum of American Indian Art & History in Phoenix, the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC, the Cincinnati Museum of Fine Art, and at the Poeh Museum in Pojoaque, New Mexico.

LuAnn has made almost every traditional Santa Clara and San Juan pottery form. Her favorite designs to decorate with include bear paws, the avanyu, clouds, birds, kiva steps, winds and gourds.

Some Awards Earned by LuAnn

2004 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, plain polished black, red, or white, including bear paw & melon design, Best of Division;
- Cat. 901 - Jars, including wedding jars, First Place;
- Div. C - Traditional pottery, carved or incised in style of San Juan, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, Cat. 1001 - Jars, Second Place;
- Cat. 1006 - Miscellaneous (can include vases, pitchers, ladles, canteens, boxes, plates, etc.), Second Place
2003 Santa Fe Indian Market. Best of Show
- Class. II - Pottery, Best of Classification;
- Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, plain polished black, red, or white, including bear paw or melon designs, Cat. 902 - Bowls, Third Place;
- Div. C - Traditional pottery, carved or incised in style of San Juan, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, Best of Division;
- Cat. 1001 - Jars, First Place
2001 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II - Pottery, Pottery, Div. C - Traditional pottery, carved or incised in style of San Juan, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, Cat. 1001 - Jars, Second Place
2000 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, plain polished black, red, or white, including bear paw & melon design, Cat. 902 - Jars (over 9" tall), First Place;
- Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, plain polished black, red, or white, including bear paw & melon design, Cat. 902 - Jars (over 7" tall), Second Place
1998 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, plain polished black, red, or white, including bear paw & melon design, Cat. 902 - Jars (over 9" tall), Third Place;
- Cat. 905 - Other bowls, Third Place;
- Div. C - Traditional pottery, carved or incised, Cat. 1002 - Jars (up to 7" tall), Honorable Mention
1997 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II - Pottery, Div. C - Traditional pottery, carved or incised, Cat. 1002 - Jars (over 7" tall), Third Place
1996 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, plain polished black, red, or white, including bear paw & melon design, Cat. 904, Melon bowls & jars, all other, Third Place;
- Div. C - Traditional pottery, carved or incised, Cat. 1002 - Jars (over 7" tall), Third Place;
- Cat. 1006 - Wedding vases, First Place
1995 Santa Fe Indian Market. Mela Youngblood Memorial Award for Excellence in Santa Clara Pottery from Class. II, Div. B or D;
- Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, Cat. 902 - Jars (over 9 inches tall), Second Place;
- Div. D - Traditional pottery, carved, Cat. 1102 - Jars (over 7 inches tall), First Place;
- Cat. 1106 - Wedding vases, Second Place
1994 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II - Pottery, Div. E - Traditional pottery, painted designs on burnished black or red surface; Cat. 1206 - Plates, Second Place
1993 Santa Fe Indian Market. Mela Youngblood Memorial Award for Excellence in Santa Clara Pottery from Class. II, Div. B or D;
- Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, Cat. 904 - Melon bowls and jars, all other, First Place;
- Jars (over 8" tall); Div. D - Traditional pottery, carved, Best of Division;
- Cat. 1102 - Jars (over 8" tall), Second Place
1992 Santa Fe Indian Market. Mela Youngblood Memorial Award for Excellence in Santa Clara Pottery from Class. II, Div. B or D;
Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, Cat. 902 - Jars (over 8" tall), First Place;
- Div. C - Traditional pottery, incised in the style of San Juan, Best of Division;
- Div. D - Traditional pottery, carved, Best of Division;
- Cat. 1102 - Jars (over 8" tall), First Place, Third Place
1991 Santa Fe Indian Market. Mela Youngblood Memorial Award for Excellence in Santa Clara Pottery from Class. II, Div. B or D;
- Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, Cat. 901 - Jars (to 8 inches), Second Place;
- Cat. 902 - Jars (over 8 inches), Third Place;
- Div. D - Traditional pottery, carved, Best of Division;
- Cat. 1102 - Jars (over 8 inches), First Place;
- Cat. 1105 - Wedding vases - First Place
1990 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, Cat. 802 - Jars (over 8"), First Place;
- Div. C - Traditional pottery, incised (in the style of San Juan), Best of Division;
- Div. D - Traditional pottery, carved, Cat. 1002 - Jars (over 8"), First Place, Second Place
1989 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, Cat. 802 - Jars (over 8" tall), Second Place;
- Cat. 805 - Other bowls, Third Place;
- Div. C - Traditional pottery, incised (in the style of San Juan), Best of Division;
- Div. D - Traditional pottery, carved, Best of Division;
- Cat. 1002 - Jars (over 8" tall), First Place
1986 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, Cat. 802 - Jars (over 8" tall), Second Place;
- Cat. 804 - Other bowls, First Place;
- Div. D - Traditional pottery, carved, Cat. 1002 - Jars (over 8" tall), Third Place
1985 Santa Fe Indian Market. Jack Hoover Memorial Award for Excellence in Santa Clara Pottery
1984 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, Cat. 801 - Jars (up to 8 inches), Second Place
1983 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional, undecorated, Second Place;
- Div. D - Traditional, carved, First Place, Second Place

Photo of LuAnn Tafoya courtesy of the artist, © LuAnn Tafoya, 2006.

100 West San Francisco Street, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
(505) 986-1234 - www.andreafisherpottery.com - All Rights Reserved

Santa Clara Pueblo

Ruins at Puye Cliffs, Santa Clara Pueblo

Santa Clara Pueblo straddles the Rio Grande about 25 miles north of Santa Fe. Of all the pueblos, Santa Clara has the largest number of potters.

The ancestral roots of the Santa Clara people have been traced to the pueblos in the Mesa Verde region in southwestern Colorado. When that area began to get dry between about 1100 and 1300, some of the people migrated to the Chama River Valley and constructed Poshuouinge (about 3 miles south of what is now Abiquiu on the edge of the mesa above the Chama River). Eventually reaching two and three stories high with up to 700 rooms on the ground floor, Poshuouinge was inhabited from about 1375 to about 1475. Drought then again forced the people to move, some of them going to the area of Puye (on the eastern slopes of the Pajarito Plateau of the Jemez Mountains) and others to Ohkay Owingeh (San Juan Pueblo, along the Rio Grande). Beginning around 1580, drought forced the residents of the Puye area to relocate closer to the Rio Grande and they founded what we now know as Santa Clara Pueblo on the west bank of the river, between San Juan and San Ildefonso Pueblos.

In 1598 Spanish colonists from nearby Yunque (the seat of Spanish government near San Juan Pueblo) brought the first missionaries to Santa Clara. That led to the first mission church being built around 1622. However, the Santa Clarans chafed under the weight of Spanish rule like the other pueblos did and were in the forefront of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. One pueblo resident, a mixed black and Tewa man named Domingo Naranjo, was one of the rebellion's ringleaders. When Don Diego de Vargas came back to the area in 1694, he found most of the Santa Clarans on top of nearby Black Mesa (with the people of San Ildefonso). An extended siege didn't subdue them so eventually, the two sides negotiated a treaty and the people returned to their pueblo. However, successive invasions and occupations by northern Europeans took their toll on the tribe over the next 250 years. The Spanish flu pandemic in 1918 almost wiped them out.

Today, Santa Clara Pueblo is home to as many as 2,600 people and they comprise probably the largest per capita number of artists of any North American tribe (estimates of the number of potters run as high as 1-in-4 residents).

Today's pottery from Santa Clara is typically either black or red. It is usually highly polished and designs might be deeply carved or etched ("sgraffito") into the pot's surface. The water serpent, ("avanyu"), is a traditional design motif of Santa Clara pottery. Another motif comes from the legend that a bear helped the people find water during a drought. The bear paw has appeared on their pottery ever since.

One of the reasons for the distinction this pueblo has received is because of the evolving artistry the potters have brought to the craft. Not only did this pueblo produce excellent black and redware, several notable innovations helped move pottery from the realm of utilitarian vessels into the domain of art. Different styles of polychrome redware emerged in the 1920's-1930's. In the early 1960's experiments with stone inlay, incising and double firing began. Modern potters have also extended the tradition with unusual shapes, slips and designs, illustrating what one Santa Clara potter said: "At Santa Clara, being non-traditional is the tradition." (This refers strictly to artistic expression; the method of creating pottery remains traditional).

Santa Clara Pueblo is home to a number of famous pottery families: Tafoya, Baca, Gutierrez, Naranjo, Suazo, Chavarria, Garcia, Vigil, Tapia - to name a few.

Harvest, Santa Clara Pueblo c. 1912 Courtesy Museum of New Mexico Neg. No. 4128

Santa Clara Pueblo c. 1920 Courtesy Museum of New Mexico Neg. No. 4214

Map showing the location of Santa Clara Pueblo

For more info:
Santa Clara Pueblo at Wikipedia
Pueblos of the Rio Grande, Daniel Gibson, ISBN-13:978-1-887896-26-9, Rio Nuevo Publishers, 2001
Upper photo courtesy of Einar Kvaran, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License

Margaret Tafoya Family Tree

Disclaimer: This "family tree" is a best effort on our part to determine who the potters are in this family and arrange them in a generational order. The general information available is questionable so we have tried to show each of these diagrams to living members of each family to get their input and approval, too. This diagram is subject to change should we get better info.

Note: Sarafina (Gutierrez) Tafoya was the sister of Pasqualita Tani Gutierrez.

Sarafina Tafoya

Margaret Tafoya (1904-2001) & Alcario Tafoya (d. 1995)
- Mary Ester Archuleta (1942-2010)
  - Barry Archuleta
  - Bryon Archuleta
  - Sheila Archuleta
- Jennie Trammel (1929-2010)
  - Karen Trammel Beloris
- Virginia Ebelacker (1925-2001)
  - James Ebelacker (1960-) & Cynthia Ebelacker
    - Jamelyn Ebelacker
    - Sarena Ebelacker
  - Richard Ebelacker (1946-2010) & Yvonne Ortiz
    - Jason Ebelacker
    - Jerome Ebelacker & Dyan Esquibel
      - Andrew Ebelacker
      - Nickolas Ebelacker
- Lee Tafoya (1926-1996) & Betty Tafoya (Anglo)
  - Linda Tafoya (Oyenque)(Sanchez) (1962-)
    - Antonio Jose Oyenque
    - Jeremy Rio Oyenque
    - Maria Theresa Oyenque
  - Melvin Tafoya
  - Phyllis Bustos Tafoya
- Mela Youngblood (1931-1990) & Walt Youngblood
  - Nancy Youngblood (1955-)
    - Christopher Cutler
    - Joseph Lugo
    - Sergio Lugo
  - Nathan Youngblood (1954-)
- Toni Roller (1935-)
  - Brandon Roller
  - Cliff Roller (1961-)
  - Deborah Morning Star Roller
  - Jeff Roller (1963-)
    - Jordan Roller
    - Ryan Roller
  - Susan Roller Whittington (1955-)
    - Charles Lewis
  - Tim Roller (1959-) & Clarissa Tafoya
  - William Roller
- LuAnn Tafoya (1938-) & Sostence Tapia
  - Michele Tapia Browning (1960-)
    - Ashley Browning
    - Mindy Browning
  - Daryl Duane Whitegeese (1964-) & Rosemary Hardy
    - Samantha Whitegeese
    - Tina Whitegeese
- Shirley Cactus Blossom Tafoya (1947-)
- Meldon Tafoya
  - Andrea Tafoya
  - Crystal Tafoya
  - Melissa Tafoya

Christina Naranjo (1891-1980) & Jose Victor Naranjo (1895-1942)
- Mary Cain (1916-2010)
  - Billy Cain (1950-2005)
  - Joy Cain (1947-)
  - Linda Cain (1949-)
    - Autumn Borts-Medlock (1967-)
    - Tammy Garcia (1969-)
  - Douglas Tafoya
  - Marjorie Tafoya Tanin
- Teresita Naranjo (1919-1999)
  - Stella Chavarria (1939-)
    - Denise Chavarria (1959-)
    - Joey Chavarria (1964-1987)
    - Sunday Chavarria (1963-)
- Cecilia Naranjo
  - Sharon Naranjo Garcia (1951-)
  - Judy Tafoya (1962-) & Lincoln Tafoya (1954-)
- Mida Tafoya (1931-2024)
  - Sherry Tafoya (1956-)
  - Phyllis Tafoya (1955-)
  - Robert Tafoya
  - Ethel Vigil
    - Kimberly Garcia

Camilio Tafoya (1902-1995) & Agapita Silva (1904-1959)
- Joe Tafoya & Lucy Year Flower (1935-2012)
  - Kelli Little Kachina (1967-2014)
  - Myra Little Snow (1962-)
  - Forrest Red Cloud Tafoya
  - Shawn Tafoya (1968-)
- Joseph Lonewolf (1932-2014) & Katheryn Lonewolf
  - Greg Lonewolf (1952-)
  - Rosemary Apple Blossom Lonewolf (1954-) & Paul Speckled Rock (1952-2017)
    - Adam Speckled Rock
  - Susan Romero
- Grace Medicine Flower (1938-)

Dolorita Padilla (1897-1960) & Alberto Padilla (1898-)
Tomacita Tafoya Naranjo (1884-1918) & Agapita Naranjo
- Nicolasa Naranjo (c.1910-) & Jose G. Tafoya
  - Howard Naranjo & Linda Naranjo

Other info is derived from personal contacts with family members and through interminable searches of the Internet.