Tafoya-Sanchez, Linda – Bowl with Nine Hummingbirds and Ribbons (1995)

8"w x 6"h

$ 2,600.00

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 nine hummingbirds carved into the clay.  Linda says that she makes the pieces with the hummingbirds as they remind her of her mother, Betty Tafoya.  The birds are highly polished and the area surrounding the birds is slipped with mica.  The rim of the bowl is also fully polished. The bowl was fired a deep black coloration.  The bowl is signed on the bottom, “Linda Tafoya-Oyenque”.  It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration, or repair.  There is a blue ribbon from the 1995 Eight Northern Pueblos Show.  There is a Blue Ribbon and a “Best of Class” for pottery ribbon from the 1996 O’odam Tash Arts and Crafts show.

“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