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| The Santa Clara Pueblo in New Mexico is a tribe of Native American Pueblo people. Established in about 1550, the pueblo, Kha’po Owingeh, is a member of the Eight Northern Pueblos of the Tewa-speaking Pueblo Indians. The Tewa relied on both irrigation farming and hunting for sustenance.
The community persisted through the American acquisition of the territory, growing wheat and corn and raising cattle. In 1858, Santa Clara Pueblo became one of the first Pueblo groups to have land claims recognized by the U.S. Congress. The people of Santa Clara Pueblo survived the Spanish Colonial, Mexican, and American political control of the larger region and today are members of the Eight Northern Pueblos. Santa Clara Pueblo is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district, and the tribe is federally recognized. The Santa Clara Pueblo is the second largest of the Tewa-speaking Pueblos.
Santa Clara Pueblo is home to a community of highly skilled artisans famous for their black polished and red polychrome pottery.
Santa Clara has a long history of pottery making and there are more than 200 active potters in the pueblo today. Until the 1920s, the majority of Santa Clara pottery was undecorated redware, blackware or made of a natural micaceous clay. In the late 1920s Sarafina Gutierrez Tafoya and her daughter, Margaret Tafoya, developed what is now known as deep-carved blackware. The two women were also instrumental in promoting the "bear claw" as a pueblo signature until today, it is the most recognized Santa Clara symbol. The Tafoyas also bucked the trend of producing smaller and smaller wares by creating some of the largest vessels ever made in the southwest.
While Santa Clara is best known for its pottery, other artisans create beautiful beadwork, woodcarving, sculpture, embroidery, baskets and woven goods. |
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