Santa Clara Pottery

Pasqualita Tafoya was the sister of noted potter SaraFina Tafoya and the matriarch of a family of renowned potters.  Her early pottery are primarily carved vessels with some unusual styles of carved patterns.  This is a larger bowl of her pottery with a carved avanyu encircling the piece.  The avanyu (water serpent) is deeply carved into the clay and the surface is fully polished.  The bowl is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Pascualita”.  Interestingly, there are numerous variations on the spelling of her name depending on the time period when they were made.  The bowl is in very good condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.  It is nice to see a larger piece of her pottery with such a classic design.

Ashley Browning creatively uses her photographic and graphic skills to create imagery that captures a moment or life in contemporary Pueblo culture.  This digital photo is called “NDN-opoly”.  Ashley writes of this piece, “It is a hand drawn illustration of a Native American Monopoly. It represents Pueblos (the Man on the top and the Pueblo homes), Navajos (the man in the middle holding the sheep and fry bread), and Plains Indian (the tee pees). I think this is such a cool idea they should make an actual game!”.  The first in this series won a Second Place at Santa Fe Indian Market in 2015. There are 10 pieces in the edition and it is framed in a black frame.

Ashley Browning creatively uses her photographic and graphic skills to create imagery that captures a moment or life in contemporary Pueblo culture.  This digital photo is called, “NDN iPhone”.  The hand model is Shaandiin Tome.  Ashley says of this piece, “It has hand drawn icons that are a Native version of iPhone apps, it is placed that are set on top of Montana Tee Pees.  So cool, it should be made into an actual apps.”  Take a closer look a few of the apps, as they certain capture the life of many Native artists.  Ashley certainly has an extraordinary sense of cultural critique in her artwork.  The first in this series won a Second Place at Santa Fe Indian Market in 2015. There are 10 pieces in the edition and it is framed in a black frame.

Ashley Browning uses her photographic and innovative graphic skills to create her unique digital photo compositions. This piece is entitled, “Paper Doll” and utilized Leslie Browning Tafoya as the model.  Ashley says of this piece, “After playing with paper dolls as a child, I always wanted to play with a pueblo paper doll, especially a paper doll from my pueblo of Santa Clara. I inspired it from the summer side, where there is a mix of different style and colors.”  The piece is creative with the various traditional clothes from Santa Clara. She ended up dressing the model three different times for the clothing ‘options’.  Native People’s Magazine wrote about Ashely and this piece,

 “I like to make people feel, to remember something—experience something meaningful,” says Ashley Browning, 21, of Pojoaque and Santa Clara pueblos in New Mexico. In 2013 she won first prize at Indian Market for best computer-generated graphics with her “real-life” paper doll, which featured a digitally altered photo of her model with interchangeable traditional and contemporary attire. With it, Browning used the digital present to evoke memories of the previous generation’s analog world.”

The first piece in this series won first place ribbon at Santa Fe Indian Market in 2013.  It is an edition of 10 and framed in a black frame.

Ashley Browning creatively uses her photographic and graphic skills to create imagery that captures a moment in Pueblo culture.  This digital photo is called, “Juxaposition”.  The model is Samatha Whitegeese (a daughter of Daryl Whitegeese).  Ashley says of this piece, “This photo is about young woman who is balancing her contemporary lifestyle and her traditional pueblo life. It is an everyday challenge that almost every young person deals with while going to school and participating in traditions.”  She took multiple photos of Samantha and combined them together to create this image.  The first in this series won a First Place at Santa Fe Indian Market in 2013. There are 10 pieces in the edition and it is framed in a black frame.

This miniature seedpot by Ray Tafoya is fully polished and round in shape.  It has a Mimbres style buffalo on the top.  It is surrounded by arrowhead and wind designs.  All the different colors are derived from natural clay slips.  The eye of the buffalo is also the hole for the seedpot!  Note how many of the designs surrounding the bear are similar to ones used today by his daughter, Jennifer Moquino.  The seedpot is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.