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 jar is coil-built, carved, polished, and traditionally fired.  The bowl has three hummingbirds, one dragonfly, and one butterfly carved into the clay.  Linda says that she makes the pieces with the hummingbirds as they remind her of her mother, Betty Tafoya.  All the figures are highly polished and the area surrounding them is slipped with mica.  The rim of the jar is carved into the negative space and is also fully polished. The jar was fired a deep glassy black coloration.  The jar is signed on the bottom, “Linda Tafoya-Oyenque”.  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

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