LuAnn Tafoya explained

LuAnn Tafoya
Birth Place:Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico, United States
Nationality:Puebloan
Field:Pottery

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.[1] [2] 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, clouds, birds, kiva steps, winds and gourds.[3]

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. 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.[4]

Her work is in collections across the US, including the Heard Museum, the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, the National Museum of the American Indian and the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

References

  1. Benco. Nancy L.. 1998-09-01. The Legacy of Generations: Pottery by American Indian Women. Museum Anthropology. 22. 2. 66–69. 10.1525/mua.1998.22.2.66. 1548-1379.
  2. Web site: Lu Ann Tafoya National Museum of Women in the Arts. National Museum of Women in the Arts. 2017-03-04.
  3. Web site: Southwest American Indian Pottery Andrea Fisher Fine Pottery. Andrea Fisher Fine Pottery. 2017-03-04.
  4. Book: Susan., Peterson. Pottery by American Indian women : the legacy of generations ; [exhibition itinerary: The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., October 9, 1997 - January 11, 1998 ; The Heard Museum, Phoenix, February 18, 1998 - April 18, 1998]. D.C.). National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington. 1998-01-01. Abbeville Press. 978-0789203533. 614021872.