Santa Clara Pottery | Andrea Fisher Fine Pottery

Rosemary Lonewolf

Santa Clara

A miniature polychrome seed pot with decorated with a sgraffito butterfly, scroll and geometric design

Born into Santa Clara Pueblo in 1954, Rosemary "Apple Blossom" Lonewolf is the daughter of Joseph Lonewolf. Greg Lonewolf is her brother, Susan Romero her sister. She grew up in a pottery making household and was exposed to every aspect of it along the way. Rosemary was active in the marketplace right out of high school, after learning how to make pottery the traditional way from her father and how to decorate her pots using the sgraffito technique, beginning in 1972. She mostly makes miniatures and sgraffito seed pots.

Rosemary's tribal affiliation is Santa Clara but she grew up mostly in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She attended Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, then Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.

Since beginning her career as a potter, she has won acclaim in both Native American and non-Native art exhibits. She spent some time as an artist-in-residence at Harvard University and at the Heard Museum. She even designed a couple pedestrian bridges crossing highways in Tucson and Phoenix.

Rosemary's work has been featured at the Smithsonian Institute, the National Museum of American History, the Heard Museum and the New Mexico Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, among others. She has also been recognized by the Arizona Commission on the Arts.

While Rosemary is most known for her sgraffito work, she has also created some major ceramic installations, including a 30-foot ceramic-and-glass art fence at the Heard Museum in 2006, in collaboration with Tony Jojola of Isleta Pueblo. That year she and Tony were Signature Artists during the annual Indian Arts Fair & Market.

Some Exhibits that Featured Rosemary's Work

Choices and Change: American Indian Artists in the Southwest. Heard Museum North. Scottsdale, AZ. June 30, 2007 - April 30, 2014
Home: Native People in the Southwest. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. 2005
Breaking the Surface: Carved Pottery Techniques and Designs. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. October 2004 - October 2005
Every Picture Tells a Story. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. 2002 - 2005
Public Sculpture. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. 2001- 2002
Heard Museum Artist in Residence. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. June 1, 2000 - July 31, 2000
Untold Stories: Celebrating Community and Culture. Grady Gammage Auditorium, Arizona State University. Tempe, AZ. April 2, 1999 - May 2, 1999
Diversity in Expression: Arizona Women Artists. Tucson Pima Arts Council Community Gallery. Tucson, AZ. May 3, 1999 - June 4, 1999
Head+Heart+Hands: Native American Craft Traditions in a Contemporary World. 1998-2000 Traveling exhibit planned for the following venues: Kentucky Art and Craft Gallery, Louisville, KY, 8/21-10/31/1998; Ohio Craft Museum, Columbus, OH, 11/22/1998-01/21/1999; Yakama Nation Cultural Heritage Center and Museum, Yakima, WA, 5/15-7/17/1999; DeLand Museum, Deland, FL, 10/29/1999-1/2/2000. August 21, 1998 - January 2, 2000
The Southwest Indian Art Show. Mesa Convention & Community Center. Mesa, AZ. November 14, 1998 - November 15, 1998
Generations. Galeria Mesa. Mesa, AZ. October 13, 1998 - November 14, 1998
Expressions of Spirit: Contemporary American Indian Art. Wheelwright Museum. Santa Fe, NM. February 4, 1995 - May 10, 1995
Art of the Southwest. October Art Gallery. New York, NY. February 7, 1992 - February 21, 1992
Magic in Clay. Morrill Hall, University of Nebraska State Museum. Lincoln, NE. May 5, 1991 - August 30, 1991
The Absolute Best of Indian Market. Gallery 10. Four Seasons Hotel. Los Angeles, CA. November 18, 1989 - November 19, 1989
New Works by Dora, Russell, Rosemary, Polly Rose & Jacquie. Gallery 10. Scottsdale, AZ. March 16, 1989 - March 22, 1989
Clay and Steel. Gallery 10. Scottsdale, AZ. March 3, 1988 - March 30, 1988
Native American Group Exhibition. Elaine Horwitch Galleries. Santa Fe, NM. August 15, 1986 - August 27, 1986
Masters of Sgraffito Pottery. Andrews Gallery Old Town. Albuquerque, NM. June 21, 1986 - July 15, 1986
Special Anniversary Show. Pueblo Vista Gallery II. San Diego, CA. May 24, 1986 - June 15, 1986
Contemporary Southwest Indian Pottery. Sid Deutsch Gallery. New York, New York. November 30, 1985 - December 31, 1985
Jewels of the Desert: Works of Contemporary Southwestern Artists. Art Institute of Philadelphia. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. June 13-21, 1985
Clay, Canvas, Threads and Thrills: The Best of the Southwest. Robillard Galleries and Colorado Opera Festival. Central City, Colorado. May 22-28, 1983
Camilio Tafoya, Rosemary Apple Blossom Speckled Rock, Joseph Lonewolf, Grace Medicine Flower. Governor's Gallery, State Capitol. Santa Fe, New Mexico. November 7, 1977 - December 9, 1977
Joseph Lonewolf, Camilio Sunflower Tafoya, Apple Blossom and Paul Speckled Rock. The Eagle Dancer. Sedona, Arizona. October 19-30, 1974

100 West San Francisco Street, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
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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.