Santa Clara
$ 3900
xxsch5409
Red wedding vase carved with geometric design
11.25 in H by 9.5 in Dia
Condition: Excellent
Signature: LuAnn Tafoya Santa Clara
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LuAnn Tafoya
Santa Clara/Pojoaque
"People want to have your pots because of how you feel when you make your pots."
LuAnn Tafoya was born into Santa Clara Pueblo, the daughter of Margaret Tafoya and granddaughter of Sarafina Tafoya, LuAnn grew up learning how to make pottery from masters of the traditional craft. She began producing pottery in her late teens and the list of awards she has earned since then is very long.
LuAnn has participated in juried competitions at the Santa Fe Indian Market, Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, Gallup Intertribal Ceremonial and the Eight Northern Pueblos Arts & Crafts Show, earning awards almost every year since 1980. In 2003 she became only the second potter ever to earn both the Blue Ribbons for Best of Pottery and Best of Show at Santa Fe Indian Market.
Like her famous mother and grandmother, LuAnn specializes in larger pieces: red, black and brown, highly polished and exquisitely carved. She is also a master of the outdoor firing process.
Everything about the building, carving and firing of a large piece is different. The clay mix needs more temper, the building of the pot takes more time as it sometimes requires that a coil be allowed to dry some before the next coil is added. Polishing is a more drawn out process, as is carving. And then comes the most dangerous part of the process: the final firing. LuAnn has mastered them all.
LuAnn also learned to make pottery in the San Juan style (San Juan/Ohkay Owingeh has a very distinctive traditional style) and has earned awards for some of those pieces, too.
LuAnn has been a featured artist in books and exhibitions like The Legacy of Generations, Fourteen Families in Pueblo Pottery and Margaret Tafoya: A Tewa Potter's Heritage & Legacy. Some of her work is on display at the Heard Museum of American Indian Art & History in Phoenix, the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC, the Cincinnati Museum of Fine Art, and at the Poeh Museum in Pojoaque, New Mexico.
LuAnn has made almost every traditional Santa Clara and San Juan pottery form. Her favorite designs to decorate with include bear paws, the avanyu, clouds, birds, kiva steps, winds and gourds.
Some Awards Earned by LuAnn
- 2004 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, plain polished black, red, or white, including bear paw & melon design, Best of Division;
- Cat. 901 - Jars, including wedding jars, First Place;
- Div. C - Traditional pottery, carved or incised in style of San Juan, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, Cat. 1001 - Jars, Second Place;
- Cat. 1006 - Miscellaneous (can include vases, pitchers, ladles, canteens, boxes, plates, etc.), Second Place - 2003 Santa Fe Indian Market. Best of Show
- Class. II - Pottery, Best of Classification;
- Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, plain polished black, red, or white, including bear paw or melon designs, Cat. 902 - Bowls, Third Place;
- Div. C - Traditional pottery, carved or incised in style of San Juan, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, Best of Division;
- Cat. 1001 - Jars, First Place - 2001 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II - Pottery, Pottery, Div. C - Traditional pottery, carved or incised in style of San Juan, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, Cat. 1001 - Jars, Second Place
- 2000 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, plain polished black, red, or white, including bear paw & melon design, Cat. 902 - Jars (over 9" tall), First Place;
- Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, plain polished black, red, or white, including bear paw & melon design, Cat. 902 - Jars (over 7" tall), Second Place - 1998 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, plain polished black, red, or white, including bear paw & melon design, Cat. 902 - Jars (over 9" tall), Third Place;
- Cat. 905 - Other bowls, Third Place;
- Div. C - Traditional pottery, carved or incised, Cat. 1002 - Jars (up to 7" tall), Honorable Mention - 1997 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II - Pottery, Div. C - Traditional pottery, carved or incised, Cat. 1002 - Jars (over 7" tall), Third Place
- 1996 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, plain polished black, red, or white, including bear paw & melon design, Cat. 904, Melon bowls & jars, all other, Third Place;
- Div. C - Traditional pottery, carved or incised, Cat. 1002 - Jars (over 7" tall), Third Place;
- Cat. 1006 - Wedding vases, First Place - 1995 Santa Fe Indian Market. Mela Youngblood Memorial Award for Excellence in Santa Clara Pottery from Class. II, Div. B or D;
- Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, Cat. 902 - Jars (over 9 inches tall), Second Place;
- Div. D - Traditional pottery, carved, Cat. 1102 - Jars (over 7 inches tall), First Place;
- Cat. 1106 - Wedding vases, Second Place - 1994 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II - Pottery, Div. E - Traditional pottery, painted designs on burnished black or red surface; Cat. 1206 - Plates, Second Place
- 1993 Santa Fe Indian Market. Mela Youngblood Memorial Award for Excellence in Santa Clara Pottery from Class. II, Div. B or D;
- Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, Cat. 904 - Melon bowls and jars, all other, First Place;
- Jars (over 8" tall); Div. D - Traditional pottery, carved, Best of Division;
- Cat. 1102 - Jars (over 8" tall), Second Place - 1992 Santa Fe Indian Market. Mela Youngblood Memorial Award for Excellence in Santa Clara Pottery from Class. II, Div. B or D;
Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, Cat. 902 - Jars (over 8" tall), First Place;
- Div. C - Traditional pottery, incised in the style of San Juan, Best of Division;
- Div. D - Traditional pottery, carved, Best of Division;
- Cat. 1102 - Jars (over 8" tall), First Place, Third Place - 1991 Santa Fe Indian Market. Mela Youngblood Memorial Award for Excellence in Santa Clara Pottery from Class. II, Div. B or D;
- Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, Cat. 901 - Jars (to 8 inches), Second Place;
- Cat. 902 - Jars (over 8 inches), Third Place;
- Div. D - Traditional pottery, carved, Best of Division;
- Cat. 1102 - Jars (over 8 inches), First Place;
- Cat. 1105 - Wedding vases - First Place - 1990 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, Cat. 802 - Jars (over 8"), First Place;
- Div. C - Traditional pottery, incised (in the style of San Juan), Best of Division;
- Div. D - Traditional pottery, carved, Cat. 1002 - Jars (over 8"), First Place, Second Place - 1989 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, Cat. 802 - Jars (over 8" tall), Second Place;
- Cat. 805 - Other bowls, Third Place;
- Div. C - Traditional pottery, incised (in the style of San Juan), Best of Division;
- Div. D - Traditional pottery, carved, Best of Division;
- Cat. 1002 - Jars (over 8" tall), First Place - 1986 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, Cat. 802 - Jars (over 8" tall), Second Place;
- Cat. 804 - Other bowls, First Place;
- Div. D - Traditional pottery, carved, Cat. 1002 - Jars (over 8" tall), Third Place - 1985 Santa Fe Indian Market. Jack Hoover Memorial Award for Excellence in Santa Clara Pottery
- 1984 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional pottery, undecorated, Cat. 801 - Jars (up to 8 inches), Second Place
- 1983 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class. II - Pottery, Div. B - Traditional, undecorated, Second Place;
- Div. D - Traditional, carved, First Place, Second Place
Photo of LuAnn Tafoya courtesy of the artist, © LuAnn Tafoya, 2006.
Santa Clara Pueblo
Ruins at Puye Cliffs, Santa Clara Pueblo
Santa Clara Pueblo straddles the Rio Grande about 25 miles north of Santa Fe. Of all the pueblos, Santa Clara has the largest number of potters.
The ancestral roots of the Santa Clara people have been traced to the pueblos in the Mesa Verde region in southwestern Colorado. When that area began to get dry between about 1100 and 1300, some of the people migrated to the Chama River Valley and constructed Poshuouinge (about 3 miles south of what is now Abiquiu on the edge of the mesa above the Chama River). Eventually reaching two and three stories high with up to 700 rooms on the ground floor, Poshuouinge was inhabited from about 1375 to about 1475. Drought then again forced the people to move, some of them going to the area of Puye (on the eastern slopes of the Pajarito Plateau of the Jemez Mountains) and others to Ohkay Owingeh (San Juan Pueblo, along the Rio Grande). Beginning around 1580, drought forced the residents of the Puye area to relocate closer to the Rio Grande and they founded what we now know as Santa Clara Pueblo on the west bank of the river, between San Juan and San Ildefonso Pueblos.
In 1598 Spanish colonists from nearby Yunque (the seat of Spanish government near San Juan Pueblo) brought the first missionaries to Santa Clara. That led to the first mission church being built around 1622. However, the Santa Clarans chafed under the weight of Spanish rule like the other pueblos did and were in the forefront of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. One pueblo resident, a mixed black and Tewa man named Domingo Naranjo, was one of the rebellion's ringleaders. When Don Diego de Vargas came back to the area in 1694, he found most of the Santa Clarans on top of nearby Black Mesa (with the people of San Ildefonso). An extended siege didn't subdue them so eventually, the two sides negotiated a treaty and the people returned to their pueblo. However, successive invasions and occupations by northern Europeans took their toll on the tribe over the next 250 years. The Spanish flu pandemic in 1918 almost wiped them out.
Today, Santa Clara Pueblo is home to as many as 2,600 people and they comprise probably the largest per capita number of artists of any North American tribe (estimates of the number of potters run as high as 1-in-4 residents).
Today's pottery from Santa Clara is typically either black or red. It is usually highly polished and designs might be deeply carved or etched ("sgraffito") into the pot's surface. The water serpent, ("avanyu"), is a traditional design motif of Santa Clara pottery. Another motif comes from the legend that a bear helped the people find water during a drought. The bear paw has appeared on their pottery ever since.
One of the reasons for the distinction this pueblo has received is because of the evolving artistry the potters have brought to the craft. Not only did this pueblo produce excellent black and redware, several notable innovations helped move pottery from the realm of utilitarian vessels into the domain of art. Different styles of polychrome redware emerged in the 1920's-1930's. In the early 1960's experiments with stone inlay, incising and double firing began. Modern potters have also extended the tradition with unusual shapes, slips and designs, illustrating what one Santa Clara potter said: "At Santa Clara, being non-traditional is the tradition." (This refers strictly to artistic expression; the method of creating pottery remains traditional).
Santa Clara Pueblo is home to a number of famous pottery families: Tafoya, Baca, Gutierrez, Naranjo, Suazo, Chavarria, Garcia, Vigil, Tapia - to name a few.
Santa Clara Pueblo at Wikipedia
Pueblos of the Rio Grande, Daniel Gibson, ISBN-13:978-1-887896-26-9, Rio Nuevo Publishers, 2001
Upper photo courtesy of Einar Kvaran, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License
The Story of
the Wedding Vase
as told by Teresita Naranjo of Santa Clara Pueblo
Helen Naha
Hopi
Wilma Baca Tosa
Jemez Pueblo
Margaret Tafoya
Santa Clara Pueblo
The Wedding Vase has been used for a long, long time in Indian Wedding Ceremonies.
After a period of courtship, when a boy and girl decide to get married, they cannot do so until certain customs have been observed. The boy must first call all his relatives together to tell them that he desires to be married to a certain girl. If the relatives agree, two or three of the oldest men are chosen to call on the parents of the girl. They pray according to Indian custom and the oldest man will tell the parents of the girl what their purpose is in visiting. The girl's parents never give a definite answer at this time, but just say that they will let the boy's family know their decision later.
About a week later, the girl calls a meeting of her relatives. The family then decides what answer should be given. If the answer is “no” that is the end of it. If the answer is “yes” then the oldest men in her family are delegated to go to the boy's home, and to give the answer, and to tell the boy on what day he can come to receive his bride-to-be. The boy must also notify all of his relatives on what day the girl will receive him, so that they will be able to have gifts for the girl.
Now the boy must find a Godmother and Godfather. The Godmother immediately starts making the wedding vase so that it will be finished by the time the girl is to be received. The Godmother also takes some of the stones which have been designated as holy and dips them into water, to make it holy water. It is with this holy water that the vase is filled on the day of the reception.
The reception day finally comes and the Godmother and Godfather lead the procession of the boy's relatives to the home of the girl. The groom is the last in line and must stand at the door of the bride's home until the gifts his relatives have brought have been opened and received by the bride.
The bride and groom now kneel in the middle of the room with the groom's relatives and the bride's parents praying all around them. The bride then gives her squash blossom necklace to the groom's oldest male relative, while the groom gives his necklace to the bride's oldest male relative. After each man has prayed, the groom's necklace is placed on the bride, and the bride's is likewise placed on the groom.
After the exchange of squash blossom necklaces and prayers, the Godmother places the wedding vase in front of the bride and groom. The bride drinks out of one side of the wedding vase and the groom drinks from the other. Then, the vase is passed to all in the room, with the women all drinking from the bride's side, and the men from the groom's.
After the ritual drinking of the holy water and the prayers, the bride's family feeds all the groom's relatives and a date is set for the church wedding. The wedding vase is now put aside until after the church wedding.
Once the church wedding ceremony has occurred, the wedding vase is filled with any drink the family may wish. Once again, all the family drinks in the traditional manner, with women drinking from one side, and men the other. Having served its ceremonial purpose, the wedding vase is given to the young newlyweds as a good luck piece.