Linda Tafoya-Sanchez is a granddaughter of noted potter Margaret Tafoya and a daughter of Lee & Betty Tafoya.  She is known for her intricately carved pottery.  This bowl is coil-built, carved, polished, and traditionally fired.  The bowl has two rabbits carved into the clay, one one side.  One side has a tan polished rabbit surrounded by a red polished medallion and a rainbow band of rabbit tracks. The opposite side has a red polished rabbit surrounded by a tan polished medallion and a red rainbow with rabbit tracks.  Separating them are red and tan polished bands with carved arrows extending down the center in the negative space.  The entire bowl is fully polished. The tan areas are the natural color of the clay and the most difficult to polish in Santa Clara pottery as they are only polished using water.  However, the coloration of the bowl after the traditional firing is striking!  The piece was mad in 2005.  It is signed on the bottom, “Linda Tafoya”.  It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration, or repair.

“The clay is a really important part of making the pottery. Listening to family members talk about how they used to get clay with Grandma and Grandpa [Margaret & Alcario Tafoya] and how they would make it an all-day venture. You feel that family connection when you are digging the clay out of the earth. It ties you to your home. There’s no other place you are going to find that kind of clay. You think about how many years people have dug that clay out of the earth, how many years Mother Earth has provided that clay for us.”  Linda Tafoya-Sanchez, Spoken Through Clay