Santa Clara Pueblo Small Black Pottery By Gregorita Chavarria

ca. 1970

2.5" H x 3.5" D

Hand Coiled Black on Black Rounded Pottery Form with Glossy and Matte Sun Motif Design

In Very Good Condition

Gregorita (Naranjo) Chavarria (c. 1905/1907–2008) was a Santa Clara Pueblo potter known for traditional blackware pottery, often featuring deeply carved designs. 

Santa Clara Pueblo (Kha'p'o Owingeh) in New Mexico is renowned for its black-on-black pottery tradition. This style involves hand-coiling vessels, polishing them to a high sheen, and firing them in a reducing atmosphere (often using manure to smother the fire and create the distinctive black finish).
Gregorita was active from the 1930s into the early 1990s. She is documented as an active potter in Betty LeFree’s Santa Clara Pottery Today (1968). Little detailed biographical information is publicly available compared to more famous potters like Margaret Tafoya. 

She was married to Juan Chavarria, who served as governor of Santa Clara Pueblo. She signed her work in various ways, such as “Gregorita,” “G. Chavarria,” or “Gregorita Sta Clara Prie.”