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Grace Medicine Flower
Santa Clara Pueblo |
For more information about Grace and her work,
please call us at 480.481.0187 or
e-mail us at kgs@kinggalleries.com .
Beauty in the Clay
Her name
alone describes her work and her persona...Grace. She is an elegant beauty
among Santa Clara potters who continues to be one of the most innovative and
influential potters working today. Her intricately designed butterflies and
hummingbirds remind the viewer of our delicate relationship with nature. Each
piece is a reflection of her connection to the earth and the Clay Lady and the
traditional and history of the
Santa Clara pueblo.
As a
child, Grace was surrounded by potters such as her mother Agapita, her father
Camilio Tafoya and her aunt, Margaret Tafoya. She began to work in clay making
traditionally styled pottery. In the late 1960’s, Grace and her brother Joseph
were among the first on Santa Clara to begin using the sgraffito technique to
carved their designs into the clay. Amazingly, Grace uses a knife or a
specially sharpened nail to carve and create her masterpieces. Grace recounts
how her first
piece of sgraffito pottery sold for $11.00, much more than her
other traditional pieces. Her early pieces were signed, “Grace Hoover”, then
they were signed with “Grace and a four petal flower. Today, she signs her work,
“Grace Medicine Flower”, with a flower beneath her name. All of her work is
made in the
traditional coil method and then pit fired outside.
Grace
has been greatly honored throughout her career for her innovative work. She has
been visited by Jackie Kennedy-Onasis, invited to the White House and ahs pieces
in collections and museums around the world. 
In the 1970’s, , Grace and here
brother Joseph were both honored by the stare of New Mexico with the production
of a medal in honor of their contribution to Santa Clara pottery. In addition
to these honors, Grace has won major awards at Gallup Ceremonials and other
major events.
Grace’s
work continues to evolve. Moving form small round seedpots with incised animal
designs, Grace now creates larger bowl, which combine deep carving with
intricately incised sections. Her latest innovation is the, “basket weave”
bowl, which gives the effect of an
exposed basket lying just underneath the
surface of the clay. One can only suspect that Grace has even more innovations
ready to be presented to the
public.
To say that Grace Medicine Flower has changed the face of pueblo pottery would
not be an understatement. To own one of her pieces it o own a part of
history. While she produces less than 20 pieces a
year, the demand among
collectors for her new pieces continues to rise with each
new year and new innovation.
Copyright: King Galleries, Charles King & Grace Medicine Flower, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008