Shirley Tafoya was the youngest daughter of Margaret Tafoya and was known for her miniature pottery.  This piece is a classic double spout canteen.  The sides of the piece have gourd indentions, representing the gourd shards used when making pottery and smoothing the surface.  They create a lot of various angles for polishing. One spout is asymmetric to “pour” an the other is rounded out and has a hand-carved stopper.  The piece also has a leather strap.  The canteen was stone polished and traditionally fired a glassy black. It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.  It is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Shirley Cactus Blossom Tafoya”.  Simple but a classic of Tafoya Family pottery!

Brand

Tafoya, Shirley (1947-2010)

Shirley Tafoya

Shirley Tafoya began making pottery full-time in 1971-2. She decided to concentrate on making miniature versions of the large vessels her mother, Margaret Tafoya, was known to produce. Shirley would work to make them as small, thin-walled and elegant in form as possible. The picture of Shirley is from one of our Gallery Shows with Shirley and LuAnn in 2001. You can read more about Shirley in the book, "Born of Fire."