Santa Clara Pottery / San Ildefonso Pottery

Santa Clara / San Ildefonso Pueblo

Pueblo Pottery Maine presents both traditional and contemporary pottery by Santa Clara and San Ildefonso artists including Mary Cain, Mida Tafoya, Tina Diaz, Sammy Naranjo, Stella Chavarria, Victor and Naomi Eckleberry, Bernice Naranjo, Barbara Martinez, Martin Moquino, Corn Moquino, Denise Chavarria, Forrest Naranjo, Ron Suazo, Dusty Naranjo, Eric Sunbird Fender, Lois Gutierrez, Alice Martinez, Sharon Naranjo Garcia, Martha Appleleaf, Madeline & Adrian Naranjo, Linda Cain, Marilyn Martinez, Glenda Naranjo, Eugene Gutierrez, Gwen Tafoya, Goldenrod, Anna Archuleta, Ethel Vigil, Chris Martinez, Sherry Tafoya and Kevin Naranjo.

Madeline Naranjo is no longer an active potter but she began working with carved blackware bowls, pots jars and plates in 1938. She is the mother of Fidel Naranjo, Francis Siow and Joseph Naranjo, and grandmother of Madeline E. Naranjo. Over the years, beginning in 1964 and through 1994, she won multiple awards at the Santa Fe Indian Market and the New Mexico State Fair plus the "Indian Fair "in Los Angeles, 1966; and the Governor's Award in 1969.

Her work is included in Dr. Gregory Schaaf's book "Pueblo Indian Pottery: 750 Artist Biographies" and "Santa Clara Pottery Today" by Betty Freeman. Her work is now rare and highly prized among collectors and museums - very rarely seen on the market which adds to this pots work. It is a very fine piece of art and pueblo pottery history and appraisals have ranged from $1,200 to $1,400 retail. It is out pleasure to offer this pot at a very reasonable price to create an even more significant opportunity. It measures 4.5 inches tall by 4.25 inches wide.Your price $975 ~ Item #SC387. Please click here to see an enlargement.

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Ursula Curran is of Santa Clara and San Juan heritage and has been a potter for several years working on miniature pots of red ware and cream. Her mother and teacher is well-known Santa Clara potter Dolores Curran who has been an active potter since 1979 working in miniature red ware/black ware and has accumulated a large number of awards from the Santa Fe Indian Market beginning in 1984. Her father is Alvin Curran, a well-know San Juan potter. Although Ursula is only 27 years old she aspires to become a master potter and has applied herself with that goal in mind. She creates her work in the traditional way which includes pit firing and gathering all the raw materials needed from the Santa Clara Pueblo area. The quality of Ursula’s stone burnishing and application of slip have already earned her a reputation for excellence. The detail of her painting on her miniatures is absolutely extraordinary especially considering that she never outlines the design before painting and the fact that each design requires several applications.

This miniature features a highly polished red ware with meticulously painted Avanyu upon the entire circumference and feather motif in the center. If you collect miniatures you’you'll want to have an early Ursula Curran in your collection because this potter has a great future before her and a natural talent that is already well developed. It measures two inches tall by 1.5 inches wide. Your price $545 ~ Item #SC369. Please click here to see an enlargement.Sale Item ~ Your price $425

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Rose Gonzales of San Ildefonso Pueblo (born at San Juan Pueblo) was an active potter from 1929 through 1989 working with carved and black-on-black blackware as well redware and duo tones in all shapes. Several members of her family were well-known potters and she taught her son Tse-pe, Dora Tse-pe and Irene Tse-pe.

Rose won many awards over the years at the Gallup Inter-tribal Ceremonial and the Santa Fe Indian Market beginning in 1965. Rose is credited as the innovator of deep carved pottery around 1930 at San Ildefonso. Her life and work are presented with greater detail in Dr. Gregory Schaaf's book "Pueblo Indian Pottery: 750 Artist Biographies" and Rick Dillingham's "Fourteen Families in Pueblo Pottery". Values recorded for a plate such as this were last recorded in 1998 when a carved 11.5 inch blackware plate sold for $1,430 at the Munn Auction..On p.181 of Gregory Schaaf's book are three fine carved plates by Rose. Her plates are rarely seen for purchase being mostly in private and institution collections. We're told that this plate is one of four created to represent the seasons though we do not know which season this one portrays.

This plate is in excellent condition and measures 11.5 inches. Your price $2,500 ~ Item #SC386. Please click here to see an enlargement.

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Delores Curran is of Santa Clara and San Juan heritage and has been a potter since 1979 working with miniature pots of red ware and cream. She is the wife of Alvin Curran, a well-know San Juan potter, and the mother of Ursula Curran, aunt of Kevin Naranjo and sister of Geri Naranjo.

Delores is a master potter who creates her work in the traditional way gathering all the raw materials needed from the Santa Clara Pueblo area and firing her pottery outdoors using wood. The quality of her stone burnishing and application of slip have earned her a reputation for excellence that has been acknowledged with a multitude of awards at the Santa Fe Indian Market. Beginning in 1984, she has won many First and Best of Division awards in several different categories including miniatures. The detail of her painting on her miniatures is absolutely extraordinary especially considering that she never outlines the design before painting and the fact that each design requires several applications. "I work at night with just a lamp. I like the silence and like to keep everything dark around me so that I can concentrate only on the piece I'm working on.....I develop the design individually as I go along. I don't have a portfolio because I don't want to copy my own designs. Everything I do is more or less one of a kind." - "Pueblo Indian Pottery" by Dr. Gregory Schaaf

This miniature features a highly polished red ware with meticulously painted Avanyu, feathers and other designs. For those who collect miniatures, a piece by Dolores is as essential as a piece by Joseph Lonewolf. It is perfection.

This piece measures 2 inches tall by 1.75 inches wide. Your price $945 ~ Item #SC329 Click here to see enlargements of this incredible miniature.

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Margaret Gutierrez of Santa Clara Pueblo is the daughter of famed potters Lela and Van Gutierrez and sister of Luther Gutierrez (1911-1987). Margaret and Luther produced some of the most beautiful polychrome pottery to ever come out of Santa Clara winning dozens of awards and being included in every major book and magazine dealing with contemporary Native American pottery. Favorite designs were the Avanyu, pueblo dancers, rain clouds, lightening, and sky bands.

At top. left, is a two handle pot by Margaret featuring a rain or thunder bird in the unique polychrome spectrum of colors that she and Luther were so well known for. Margaret and Luther's work is highly collected and valued. This pot measures 3.5 inches tall by 3.5 inches wide. Very clean work and beautiful in its simplicity.Your price $475 ~ Item #SC326. SOLD

Margaret's work is included in Arizona Highways, Indian Arts Magazine, Gregory Schaaf's "Southern Pueblo Pottery"; Rick Dillingham's "Fourteen Pueblo Families"; Lillian Peaster's "Pueblo Pottery Families"; "Storytellers and Other Figurative Pottery" by Douglas Congdon-Martin; and "Southwest Pottery: Anasazi to Zuni" by Hayes and Blom to name just a few.

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