Sara Fina Gutiérrez Tafoya (1863-1949)
(sometimes spelled Serafina Tafoya) was a
Tewa
The Tewa are a linguistic group of Pueblo Native Americans who speak the Tewa language and share the Pueblo culture. Their homelands are on or near the Rio Grande in New Mexico north of Santa Fe. They comprise the following communities:
* ...
matriarch potter from
Kha'po Owingeh (in Tewa:
ɑ̀ʔp’òː ʔówîŋgè, New Mexico.
Tafoya is known for her minimally-adorned
blackware
Stoneware is a rather broad term for pottery or other ceramics fired at a relatively high temperature. A modern technical definition is a vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic made primarily from stoneware clay or non-refractory fire clay. Whether vi ...
and
black-on-black ware
Black-on-black ware is a 20th- and 21st-century pottery tradition developed by Puebloan Native American ceramic artists in Northern New Mexico. Traditional reduction-fired blackware has been made for centuries by Pueblo artists and other arti ...
, frequently marked with the imprint of a bear claw motif.
She has been referred to as "undoubtedly the outstanding Tewa potter of her time."
The Tafoya family lineage of
Puebloan potters "goes as far back as records exist."
Tafoya's work consisted primarily of large-scale vessels that were marked with concave and convex impressions and carved designs.
Personal life
Tafoya married Geronimo Tafoya with whom she had eight children.
Many of her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and extended family became well-known potters including
Margaret Tafoya
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 ...
,
LuAnn Tafoya
LuAnn Tafoya (born 1938 in Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico) is a Native American potter. Like her mother, Margaret Tafoya, and her grandmother Sara Fina Tafoya, she creates large ceramic pieces using traditional methods. She is known for her larg ...
,
Tammy Garcia
Tammy Garcia (born August 27, 1969, in Los Angeles, California) is a Santa Clara Pueblo sculptor and Ceramic artist. Garcia translates Pueblo pottery forms and iconography into sculptures in bronze and other media.
Background
Tammy Garcia is a m ...
,
Nathan Youngblood Nathan Youngblood (born 1954) is a Native American potter from Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico, United States.Folwell et al, 15
Background
He was born in Fort Carson, Colorado to Mela (1931–1991) and Walt Youngblood. During his adolescent years N ...
and others.
Collections
Her work is included in the collection of the
Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...
,
the
Denver Art Museum
The Denver Art Museum (DAM) is an art museum located in the Civic Center of Denver, Colorado. With encyclopedic collections of more than 70,000 diverse works from across the centuries and world, the DAM is one of the largest art museums between t ...
,
the
Mount Hoyoke College Art Museum,
the
Nelson-Atkins Museum
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, known for its encyclopedic collection of art from nearly every continent and culture, and especially for its extensive collection of Asian art.
In 2007, ''Time'' magaz ...
of Art,
among other private and public collections.
Gallery
Sara_Fina_Tafoya,_Wedding_Vase.jpg, Wedding vase by Sara Fina Tafoya
Sara Fina Tafoya firing blackware pottery at Santa Clara Pueblo, c. 1900.jpg, Sara Fina Tafoya firing blackware pottery at Santa Clara Pueblo, c. 1900
Sara Fina Tafoya (right) with her husband Geronimo c. 1900.jpg, Geronimo and Sara Fina Tafoya c. 1900
See also
*
Black-on-black ware
Black-on-black ware is a 20th- and 21st-century pottery tradition developed by Puebloan Native American ceramic artists in Northern New Mexico. Traditional reduction-fired blackware has been made for centuries by Pueblo artists and other arti ...
*
Pueblo pottery
Pueblo pottery are ceramic objects made by the indigenous Pueblo people and their antecedents, the Ancestral Puebloans and Mogollon cultures in the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico.
For centuries, pottery has been central to puebl ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tafoya, Sara Fina
Native American artists
1863 births
1949 deaths
Pueblo people
American potters
Artists from New Mexico
20th-century American artists
20th-century Native American artists
19th-century Native American women
20th-century Native American women