LuAnn Tafoya (born 1938 in

Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico Santa Clara Pueblo (in Tewa: Khaʼpʼoe Ówîngeh ɑ̀ʔp’òː ʔówîŋgè ″Singing Water Village″, also known as ″Village of Wild Roses″ is a census-designated place (CDP) in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States and a federall ...

) is a Native American potter. Like her mother, Margaret Tafoya, and her grandmother

Sara Fina Tafoya Sara Fina Gutiérrez Tafoya (1863-1949) (sometimes spelled Serafina Tafoya) was a Tewa matriarch potter from Kha'po Owingeh (in Tewa: ɑ̀ʔp’òː ʔówîŋgè, New Mexico. Tafoya is known for her minimally-adorned blackware and black-on- ...

, she creates large ceramic pieces using traditional methods. She is known for her large, highly polished black and red vessels decorated with variations on classic imagery and forms, like traditional bear paw imprints, the

avanyu Avanyu (also Awanyu), is a Tewa deity, the guardian of water. Represented as a horned or plumed serpent with curves suggestive of flowing water or the zig-zag of lightning, Awanyu appears on the walls of caves located high above canyon rivers i ...

, clouds, birds, kiva steps, winds and gourds. Tafoya prospects, sifts, and mixes her clay with volcanic sand at Santa Clara Pueblo in much the same way as her ancestors. The black and red clay slips for the coating come from

Santo Domingo Pueblo Kewa Pueblo ( Eastern Keres , Keres: ''Díiwʾi'', Navajo: ''Tó Hájiiloh'') is a federally-recognized tribe of Native American Pueblo people in northern New Mexico, in Sandoval County southwest of Santa Fe. The pueblo is recorded as the Santo ...

. She uses a coiling method to create the height and shape of her pieces, after which she applies a clay slip coating and polishes until a high shine is obtained, using small quantities of lard intermittently, and carves the pieces with screwdrivers. The pots are fired in traditional open firing after being slowly pre-heated. Her work is in collections across the US, including the

Heard Museum The Heard Museum is a private, not-for-profit museum in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, dedicated to the advancement of American Indian art. It presents the stories of American Indian people from a first-person perspective, as well as exhibitio ...

, the

Cantor Arts Center The Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, formerly the Stanford University Museum of Art, and commonly known as the Cantor Arts Center, is an art museum on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California. ...

at Stanford University, the

National Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers. The museum has three ...

and the

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openin ...

References

Native American potters American potters Artists from New Mexico Santa Clara Pueblo people American women ceramists Native American women artists 1938 births 1988 deaths Women potters 20th-century American ceramists 20th-century American women artists 20th-century Native American artists 20th-century Native American women {{US-artist-stub