Santa Clara Pueblo Carved Blackware Pottery by Margaret Tafoya

Santa Clara Pueblo Carved Blackware Pottery by Margaret Tafoya
Mid to Late 20th Century

ca 1960
Size: 5" x 6 1/2"

With the classic Avaynu Water Serpent motif.
From a Private Colorado Collection
Excellent Condition

Maria Margarita "Margaret" Tafoya (Tewa name: Corn Blossom; August 13, 1904 – February 25, 2001) was the matriarch of Santa Clara Pueblo potters.

She was a recipient of a 1984 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

Margaret was the daughter of Sara Fina (sometimes spelled Serafina) Guiterrez Tafoya (1863–1949) and Jose Geronimo Tafoya (1863–1955). She attended the Santa Clara Pueblo elementary school, and then the Santa Fe Indian School from 1915 to 1918. She had to drop out of high school to help her family during the flu pandemic of 1918.

Margaret learned the art of making pottery from her parents, and was particularly influenced by her mother. Sara Fina was considered the leading potter of Santa Clara in her day, as the master of making exceptionally large, finely polished blackware. She also occasionally made redware, micaceous clay storage jars and other smaller utilitarian forms. Margaret's father was primarily concerned with raising food for the family but he was also known to make pottery and helped Sara Fina with many aspects of her pottery production.