Santa Clara Pottery

Santa Clara Pueblo, located north of Santa Fe, is known for its highly polished and carved blackware and redware pottery. Beginning in the late-1800s, Santa Clara potters started making pottery specifically to sell to tourists who were drawn to the highly polished wares. Santa Clara pottery is notable for the work of potter Margaret Tafoya (1904-2001), who produced her award-winning jars and bowls from the 1920s to the 1980s and became matriarch of a family of renowned Pueblo pottery makers. Contemporary Santa Clara pottery is characterized by glossy black or red polished surfaces and skillful three-dimensional carving, sometimes with turquoise inlay. Important contemporary Santa Clara potters include Mela Youngblood, Roni Roller, Christina Naranjo, and Grace Medicine Flower.