Tafoya, Jennifer & Chris Youngblood – Tall “There Be Dragons…” Jar with Weedy Sea Dragons
$ 14,000.00
This is a highly detailed collaborative piece by Christopher Youngblood and Jennifer Tafoya. It is a large shape that creates a lot of volume for design space. The jar is entitled “There Be Dragons…”. The jar has weedy seadragons carved into the clay. Each is then etched with design after the firing. The precision and detail of Jennifer’s etching and coloration is matched by the highly polished and deeply carved imagery created by Chris. The rim has water designs and the base has traditional Santa Clara designs, both are slipped with mica. It is a creative vessel, but striking in size, design, and the complexity of its carving. It is signed by both Chris and Jennifer.
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This is a highly detailed collaborative piece by Christopher Youngblood and Jennifer Tafoya. It is a large shape that creates a lot of volume for design space. The jar is entitled “Circling the Clouds”. The jar has eight large sparrows and five smaller ones. The larger sparrows are each highly polished and etched with detail for the feathers. The smaller birds are fully polished. The clouds are carved into the clay and slipped with white clay. They have a beautiful color variation, giving them a sense of motion and movement, much like the birds. The depth and variation of the jar is exceptional, as is the detail. Each bird seems to have its on character! The area around the rim and base are slipped with mica. The detail on each of the figures by Jennifer is exceptional! It is a creative vessel, but striking in size, design, and the complexity of its carving. It is signed by both Chris and Jennifer.
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Tafoya, Jennifer (b. 1977)
Jennifer Tafoya
Jennifer Tafoya is the daughter of Ray and Emily Tafoya. The use of realism in their imagery has revitalized the style of sgraffito pottery originated by Joseph Lonewolf in the 1970s. Jennifer has won numerous awards for her pottery and is featured in books such as "Talking with the Clay," "Crafted to Perfection," and "Breaking the Mold." Jennifer has also been featured in recent magazine articles in "Native Peoples Magazine" and "Southwest Art Magazine" and won "Best of Pottery" for a collaborative jar at the 2013 Heard Indian Market Guild. She has continued to be an award-winning potter at Santa Fe Indian Market's 'Best of Show 2023.' Jennifer uses the Native American traditional hand-coiled pottery methods, then shapes, polishes, and is traditionally fired before applying scraffito. She then paints natural ore colors and slips them into her designs. She collects and processes all of her pottery materials from natural sources.
Youngblood, Christopher (b. 1989)
Chris Youngblood
Chris Youngblood is Margaret Tafoya's great-grandson and Nancy Youngblood's son. His mother, Nancy, taught him to make pottery. He won the "Best of Class - Youth Award" at Santa Fe Indian Market and the prestigious "Best of Pottery" in 2014. In the 2010 Native People's Magazine, he was featured as one of the "Generation Next Emerging Potters" and recently featured in Native Art Magazine in 2016 as one of the "Three Potters Under 30" to watch. In addition, his "Best of Pottery" jar was featured in the book "Spoken Through Clay."
Chris Youngblood says that he focuses on each piece, taking the time to work on the shape and stone polish the surface to a high shine, often polishing it several times to get it right. Chris comes to the clay focused on expanding his illustrious family's technical and artistic boundaries. His manipulation of the clay surface through his technically inspired imagery expands the art in new directions.