Jennifer (Tafoya) Moquino was born to Ray Tafoya and Emily (Suazo) Tafoya of Santa Clara Pueblo in 1977. Both she and her husband, Michael Moquino (son of Corn Moquino), grew up in households where some aspect in the making of pottery was unfolding in front of them on a daily basis. It is said she made her first piece of pottery when she was six years old.

Jennifer submitted a figure for judging in the 1992 Santa Fe Indian Market Student division (ages 13 through 18) and earned her first First Place ribbon. In 1996 she earned another First Place ribbon at Santa Fe for a figure. Jennifer and Michael became a husband-and-wife team in 1998 and, together, are still earning ribbons for their work.

Jennifer and Mike specialize in making miniature vases and seed pots. Mike makes most of the pieces and Jennifer does the sgraffito designs. Her favorite designs incorporate birds, insects, animals and flowers. Around 2015 Mike started making tiles that Jennifer etched and painted with a mix of Japanese animé designs with Pueblo themes and colors.

Some Awards Jennifer has earned

• 2023 Santa Fe Indian Market, Division C: Pottery, Best of Class
• 2023 Santa Fe Indian Market, Division C, Category 701 - Carved or incised, black or red, under 8 inches, Second Place
• 2023 Santa Fe Indian Market, Division D, Best of Division
• 2023 Santa Fe Indian Market, Category 801 - Sgraffito, any form, First Place
• 2023 Santa Fe Indian Market, Category 802 - Carved, any form, Second Place
• 2019 Santa Fe Indian Market: Tony Da Memorial Award: "New Vision in Pueblo Pottery." For excellence in the creative and innovative use of traditional materials and techniques in creating new styles in Pueblo Pottery
• 2019 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II - Pottery, Division E - Contemporary pottery, any form or design, using commercial clays/glazes, all firing techniques, Category 906 - Sgraffito and carved, any form: First Place
  - 2019 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II - Pottery, Division F - Miniature pots, individual pieces under 3" in any direction, Category 1003 - Figures, including sets: First Place
• 2018 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II - Pottery, Division C - Traditional Burnished Black or Red Ware; Incised, Painted or Carved, Category 701 - Carved or incised, black or red, under 8 inches: Second Place
• 2018 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, Classification II - Pottery, Division A - Painted, native clay, hand built, fired out-of-doors: Second Place. Awarded for a collaborative work with Jason Ebelacker: Signs of Spring Water Jar
• 2017 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, Classification II Pottery, Division F - Any Design or Form with Non-native Materials, Includes Kiln Fired Pottery: First Place. Awarded for collaborative artwork with Jason Ebelacker: Autunmoki
• 2016 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, Classification II - Pottery, Division D - Traditional - Native Clay, Hand Built, Figurative: Second Place
  - 2016 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, Classification II - Pottery, Division F - Non-Traditional Design or Form with Non-Native Materials: First Place, with Christopher Youngblood Cutler
• 2014 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, Classification II - Pottery, Division E - Non-traditional Design or Form with Native Materials: Second Place. Award for collaborative work with Russell Sanchez. Awarded for artwork: Dragon Water Jar
  - 2014 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, Classification II - Pottery, Division F - Non-traditional Design or Form with non-native Materials: First Place. Awarded for artwork: Feathered Serpent
• 2013 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, Classification II - Pottery: Best of Classification, with Russell Sanchez
  - 2013 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, Classification II - Pottery, Division D - Traditional - Native Clay, Hand Built, Figurative: First Place, with Russell Sanchez
  - 2013 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, Classification II - Pottery - Division F - Non-Traditional Design or Form with Non-Native Materials: First Place, with Russell Sanchez
• 2012 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, Classification II - Pottery, Division C - Traditional, Native Clay, Hand Built, Carved: First Place, with Michael Lee
  - 2012 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, Classification II - Pottery, Division G - Miniatures Not to Exceed 3": Second Place
• 2008 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, Classification II - Pottery, Division G - Pottery, Miniatures: Second Place
• 2004 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II - Pottery: Best of Classification
  - 2004 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II - Pottery, Division H - Non-Traditional Pottery using Traditional Materials and Techniques with Non-traditional Decorative Elements: Best of Division
  - 2004 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II - Pottery, Division H - Non-Traditional Pottery using Traditional Materials and Techniques with Non-traditional Decorative Elements, Category 1507 - Sgraffito: First Place
  - 2004 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II - Pottery, Division J - Non-Traditional Ceramics, All Materials, All Techniques, with or without Decorative Elements, Any Form, Any Design: Second Place

Micaceous clay pots are the only truly functional Pueblo pottery still being made. Some special micaceous pots can be used directly on the stove or in the oven for cooking. Some are also excellent for food storage. Some people say the best beans and chili they ever tasted were cooked in a micaceous bean pot. Whether you use them for cooking or storage or as additions to your collection of fine art, micaceous clay pots are a beautiful result of centuries of Pueblo pottery making.

Between Taos and Picuris Pueblos is US Hill. Somewhere on US Hill is a mica mine that has been in use for centuries. Excavations of ancient ruins and historic homesteads across the Southwest have found utensils and cooking pots that were made of this clay hundreds of years ago.

Not long ago, though, the making of micaceous pottery was a dying art. There were a couple potters at Taos and at Picuris still making utilitarian pieces but that was it. Then Lonnie Vigil felt the call, returned to Nambe Pueblo from Washington DC and learned to make the pottery he became famous for. His success brought others into the micaceous art marketplace.

Micaceous pots have a beautiful shimmer that comes from the high mica content in the clay. Mica is a composite mineral of aluminum and/or magnesium and various silicates. The Pueblos were using large sheets of translucent mica to make windows prior to the Spaniards arriving. It was the Spanish who brought a technique for making glass. There are eight mica mining areas in northern New Mexico with 54 mines spread among them. Most micaceous clay used in the making of modern Pueblo pottery comes from several different mines near Taos Pueblo.

As we understand it, potters Robert Vigil and Clarence Cruz have said there are two basic kinds of micaceous clay that most potters use. The first kind is extremely micaceous with mica in thick sheets. While the clay and the mica it contains can be broken down to make pottery, that same clay has to be used to form the entire final product. It can be coiled and scraped but that final product will always be thicker, heavier and rougher on the surface. This is the preferred micaceous clay for making utilitarian pottery and utensils. It is essentially waterproof and conducts heat evenly.

The second kind is the preferred micaceous clay for most non-functional fine art pieces. It has less of a mica content with smaller embedded pieces of mica. It is more easily broken down by the potters and more easily made into a slip to cover a base made of other clay. Even as a slip, the mica serves to bond and strengthen everything it touches. The finished product can be thinner and have a smoother surface. As a slip, it can also be used to paint over other colors of clay for added effect. However, these micaceous pots may be a bit more water resistant than other Pueblo pottery but they are not utilitarian and will not survive utilitarian use.

While all micaceous clay from the area of Taos turns golden when fired, it can also be turned black by firing in an oxygen reduction atmosphere. Black fire clouds are also a common element on golden micaceous pottery.

Mica is a relatively common component of clay, it's just not as visible in most. Potters at Hopi, Zuni and Acoma have produced mica-flecked pottery in other colors using finely powdered mica flakes. Some potters at San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, Jemez and San Juan use micaceous slips to add sparkle to their pieces.

Potters from the Jicarilla Apache Nation collect their micaceous clay closer to home in the Jemez Mountains. The makeup of that clay is different and it fires to a less golden/orange color than does Taos clay. Some clay from the Picuris area fires less golden/orange, too. Christine McHorse, a Navajo potter who married into Taos Pueblo, uses various micaceous clays on her pieces depending on what the clay asks of her in the flow of her creating.

There is nothing in the makeup of a micaceous pot that would hinder a good sgraffito artist or light carver from doing her or his thing. There are some who have learned to successfully paint on a micaceous surface. The undecorated sparkly surface in concert with the beauty of simple shapes is a real testament to the artistry of the micaceous potter.