When Mark Tahbo delivers pottery to the gallery he always spends considerable time explaining each and every item of design.  He treats each vessel as a special item and wants to be sure that we understand what he did and why he did it.  I sometimes wish I had recorded his words rather than attempting to remember them.

Would you like to know more? 

This jar is one with pictorial design elements, as probably one could say regarding all Sikyatki and Sikyatki-revival jar designs, since most of them feature some form of stylized bird elements, however, this one features two designs of the Plumed Serpent.  The Hopi version, as seen on prehistoric Hopi pottery, is different from the manner in which the New Mexico Tewa Pueblos present their version of the Plumed Serpent or Avanyu.  Of course, these versions as presented on this jar could be Mark Tahbo's imagination and artist license taking control.  The diamond on the body of one of the serpents represents the house where the serpent resides according to Hopi legend.  Mark admitted that the serpent might resemble an octopus in some people's mind but that is not the intent. 

Would you like to know more?

Elva Tewaguna Nampeyo was a granddaughter of Nampeyo of Hano and daughter of Fannie Nampeyo.  She has been gone over 30 years now so there are not many of her wares on the market, and there certainly are not many of this magnificence.  She was an exceptional potter and her work never deteriorated later in her life when she became ill.  She certainly was one of the exceptional potters of her generation. 

Would you like to know more?

After meeting Dorothy Dunn at The Studio at the Santa Fe Indian School, Pablita Velarde was convinced that a career in painting was her calling. She had been inspired by watching Tonita Peña pursue an art career and was actually encouraged by Peña to pursue art as a career.

We are fortunate that she pursued the career of her choice. We now have a collection of art that is truly inspiring. She revived the art of painting with earth minerals. Preparation of the paints was a laborious task that took days of grinding pigments on a metate using a mano.

Would you like to know more?

Angela might be considered the Matriarch of the first family of Santa Clara melon potters. She was a melon pot specialist who made various sizes in both red and black and she made the same shape jars but with bear paws instead of melon ribs. She undoubtedly had one of the longest potting careers in Santa Clara Pueblo. Her pottery is in the collections of the National Museum of the American Indian of the Smithsonian Institution, The Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian and other numerous museums and galleries.

Would you like to know more?

Angela Baca has long been associated with her ability to produce beautiful red and black jars, some with melon ribs and others with bear paw depressions into the clay. Works in these styles are first coil-formed with a large diameter coil of clay and allowed to dry to a leather-hard state, whereupon they are carved with the distinctive ribs or bear paw depressions. After carving, the pottery is slipped in iron-bearing red slip, intricately stone-polished and then fired in either a smothered, reduction atmosphere to achieve the superb black finish or in an oxidizing atmosphere to achieve the red finish.

Would you like to know more?

There were probably more bowls made in New Mexico Pueblos than there were jars.  Very large bowls, called dough bowls, were used for preparing bread dough; medium-size ones were used for preparation of tortilla dough, serving food at the table or for storage and even overturned as a lid for covering jars; the smallest bowls were used for daily meals.

This bowl would be of the medium size and probably used as stated above.  Most of the polished red slip on the interior has been rubbed from constant use so the bowl appears to have had an extensive life at the pueblo before entering the marketplace.  It has a very traditional Zia design of floral elements over a cream slip.  The underbody is slipped in red clay.

Would you like to know more?

The historic period of pueblo pottery has been defined as beginning with the first contact with Europeans in 1540, the reasoning being that it was the Europeans who began documenting events, creating a history of the area, which was a logical beginning of the historic pottery period.  At that time, pueblo potters made pottery for their own use and as a trade item to members of other pueblos or tribes.

With the arrival of the Spanish, the market for pueblo pottery greatly increased as it was easier and smarter to procure pottery from local pueblo potters than to wait for imports to arrive on the Camino Real from Mexico City, a journey that took over 6 months to complete.  New shapes and new sizes of pottery were developed to satisfy the needs of the new markets.  Large storage jars were standard measurements of volume to facilitate trade of wheat or grains to the market.  In some cases, the historic jar in which the grain was stored was given with the sale of the grain as it was considered only a container of the product being sold.  One wonders if the purchaser of a jar full of grain used the product then discarded the container.

Would you like to know more?

As a small child, Cecil Dick spoke only Cherokee.  He was orphaned at age 12 and reared in Indian boarding schools.  He was considered an authority on Cherokee mythology and the Cherokee written language.  He attended the Santa Fe Indian School for one year, did not like the school's flat painting style, and chose to paint in the Woodlands style with the plants, trees, and hills that were part of his Woodlands experience. He was allowed to do so.  After one year in Santa Fe, he returned to Oklahoma.

Dick did not paint on a regular basis at any time during his career.  He painted when he felt like doing so and, as a result, his work is relatively rare.  He also worked as a sign painter and a draftsman, another reason for not executing many art paintings.

Would you like to know more?

Dan Namingha is well-known as a painter but he has a strong presence in bronze sculpture as well.  His sculptures have been executed in wood and bronze.  In the 1990s he formulated a series of bronze sculptures relating to Kachinas.  He executed a series of bronze sculptures entitled Kachina Symbolism.  This sculpture measures approximately 18 x 18 inches, with a pedestal that is 6-1/8" deep.  A very similar larger one was cast in 1997 at 50 x 48 x 16 inches. 

Would you like to know more?

This is a beautifully executed serving bowl from Zia Pueblo, created most likely in the mid-20th century.  This excellent medium-size bowl was coil-formed of native clay with the addition of crushed basaltic temper. The underbody bare paste was stone-polished to a warm brick red color. The design field was covered in soft orange slip over which was painted the design of floral elements. The rim of the bowl curves inward just so slightly and displays a very slight concave slope. 

Would you like to know more?

Glenn Dean decided early in life to become a painter and although he took a couple of workshops in outdoor painting, he basically is a self-taught artist.  He chose to self-study the great California artists, particularly Maynard Dixon and Edgar Payne whom he felt painted scenes as they were meant to be painted.  He paints on location and particularly likes the landscapes of the Southwest for subject matter.

In this painting, one's mind cannot help but revert back to Ansel Adams' "Moonrise Over Hernandez," as an inspiration for this title, but the similarities end there.  Dean has beautifully presented the low adobe homes nestled in the foothills of Santa Fe's Sangre de Cristo mountain range.  The homes blend into the landscape with their earth colors and snuggle beneath the pink hues of the sky and the purple of the range.  An excellent representation of the facts that exist.

Would you like to know more?

Artists sometimes struggle in their chosen career as painters, but Jake Haverstick was fortunate in the 1930s to make the acquaintance of famous Taos artist W. Herbert Buck Dunton, one of the founders of the Taos Society of Artists. Dunton mentored the young Haverstick until he felt he no longer needed instruction.

Haverstick and his family then moved from Taos to Albuquerque where they stayed until both he and his wife passed away. Haverstick's wife, Fay, made wooden hand carved frames for his paintings. Fortunately, this painting still retains the hand carved frame made by Fay Haverstick.

Would you like to know more?

The Navajo are best known for production of concha belts, but pueblo silversmiths also made them.  Joe Quintana and Silviano Quintana are known to have made them-some signed and others not.  This concha belt was examined on October 18, 2013 by Cochiti jeweler Cippy Crazyhorse, son of Joe Quintana, who stated that he thought this was made by Silviano Quintana.

Would you like to know more?

Dan Namingha is from the Hopi-Tewa village at First Mesa.  He is a member of the famous Nampeyo family.  His mother is Dextra Nampeyo and his grandmother was Rachel Namingha Nampeyo. He was born in 1950 and attended High School at Keams Canyon, Arizona, the University of Kansas and then the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe where he came under the influence of Otellie Loloma who encouraged him to experiment with his art.  He began his art career painting in realistic style and then, around 1972, began to paint in a more abstract manner. Teachers at IAIA, such as Otellie Loloma, Allan Houser, and Fritz Scholder, encouraged the students to expand their horizons and paint creatively, which many did.

Would you like to know more?

This large storage jar was purchased by the current owner directly from the potter about 15 years ago and the artist told him at that time that it was used in the kiva for holding water but he would sell it since he made it and owned it.

According to Gregory Schaaf, in the referenced book below, "Vidal Aguilar makes some of the largest polychrome ollas at Santo Domingo in the Aguilar family tradition.  His pottery is hand coiled and polished.  His black paint is a mineral pigment used centuries ago, rather than the typically used Guaco or Mountain Bee plant. His red & white paints are natural clay.  He fires his pottery in a pit."

Do you want to know more?

Felipita Aguilar Garcia was the inspiration behind a quiet revolution in pottery designs at Santo Domingo (now Kewa) Pueblo between 1905 and 1914. She, and her sister, Asunción Aguilar Caté, developed a new style of pottery design. Felipita favored the strong black with thin cream lines and Asunción favored the black and red with thin cream lines.

Several potters have occasionally designed jars similar to Felipita's. Monica Silva and Robert Tenorio of Kewa Pueblo and Lisa Holt of Cochiti with Harlan Reano of Kewa have produced similar pieces.

Would you like to know more?

Lu Ann Tafoya, a daughter of Margaret Tafoya, certainly inherited the talent to produce beautifully sculpted jars with outrageously burnished surfaces. She has made jars almost three feet tall, a feat not easily accomplished. Her grandmother, Sara Fina Tafoya, was a masterful potter, as was her mother, Margaret Tafoya, who, in turn, passed on this artistic gene to nine children and numerous grandchildren.

Would you like to know more?

Polished red candlesticks seem to be rarer than polished black ones, perhaps because blackware was so popular in the mid-20^th century when most Southwest Indian Pottery candlesticks were being made.  This one from Santa Clara Pueblo is tall and graceful and decorated simply with white-outlined red triangles.  It shows evidence of prior use.

Would you like to know more?

Sara Fina Tafoya (circa 1863-1950) Autumn Leaf was from Santa Clara Pueblo and she made large utilitarian vessels and small items as well. Most were undecorated polished black or red pottery, and some had scalloped rims and impressed designs including bear paws and melon shapes.

Her work today must be attributed to her hand by comparing them to pieces in collections which are known to have been made by her. Because of the high quality of her pottery, it is not too difficult to single out her work. 

 Would you like to know more?