Margaret Tafoya

Margaret Tafoya (1904–2001), whose Tewa name was Corn Blossom, is universally regarded as the matriarch of Santa Clara Pueblo pottery. Born into a legendary family of ceramicists, she learned her craft from her mother, the famed Sara Fina Tafoya. Throughout her long, incredibly prolific life, Margaret remained fiercely dedicated to the ancestral ways of her people. She adamantly refused to use commercial clays, potter’s wheels, or modern kilns, insisting that true Santa Clara pottery must be born entirely from the earth and the artist’s own hands.

Tafoya became globally famous for crafting vessels of unprecedented size and for achieving a surface polish so brilliant it looked like black glass. She was instrumental in popularizing the carved styles and the classic “bear paw” motif that have since become synonymous with her Pueblo. Her extraordinary contributions to American art were formally recognized in 1984 when she was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts—the highest honor the United States government bestows upon a traditional artist. Today, her pottery is heavily sought after by elite collectors and resides in the permanent collections of major museums worldwide.