Margaret Tafoya~
Keeper of the Clay

Chimayo Trading Staff Report | August 2026

Margaret Tafoya from the artistic lineage of the Tafoya family was a matriarch of Santa Clara Pueblo potters and is regarded as one of the great masters of Pueblo ceramics. Known by her Tewa name Corn Blossom, Margaret was born on August 13, 1904, at Santa Clara Pueblo in New Mexico.

We have recently received New Arrivals from the legendary hands of Margaret Tafoya. Come visit us in Ranchos de Taos NM, or online at chimayotrading.com to see these historic pieces of blackware from one of Santa Clara Pueblo’s greatest potters.

Avanyu Plate
12.75″ x 2″
$4950

Margaret grew up in a family where pottery was both livelihood and legacy. Her mother, Sara Fina Tafoya (1863-1949), was already a respected potter known for making unusually large, finely polished vessels and laid the foundation of her family’s unique style, developing what is now known as deep-carved blackware. From an early age Margaret watched and helped, learning the long process of gathering clay from ancestral deposits on pueblo land, preparing it by hand, and coiling it into form without a wheel.

She married Alcario Tafoya in 1924, and the two worked as a team the way her parents had. Alcario helped dig and process the clay and often carved the deeper designs once the pots had dried. Margaret shaped the vessels, applied the slip, and spent hours polishing the surfaces with smooth stones until they shone like mirrors. She preferred traditional blackware and redware, decorating them with deeply carved or impressed designs rather than painted ones. The bear paw, a symbol of good luck and the search for water, became one of her most recognized motifs. She also carved the avanyu (water serpent), kiva steps, rain clouds, and other symbols tied to survival and the natural world.

Plate with Feather Motif
12″ x 1.5″
$3950

What set Margaret apart was her mastery of scale. She continued her mother’s practice of making monumental storage jars, some more than two feet tall. These pieces required months of careful drying and a precise outdoor firing to avoid cracks. By the 1960s her large, polished black jars were widely known and sought after. She received Best of Show awards at the Santa Fe Indian Market in 1978 and 1979. In 1984 the National Endowment for the Arts honored her with a National Heritage Fellowship, recognizing both her technical excellence and her role in keeping Santa Clara pottery traditions alive.

Margaret and Alcario raised a large family, and many of their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren became potters themselves. Margaret insisted that they continue using local clay, open firing, and stone polishing. Through that insistence she helped ensure that the knowledge passed down for generations would not fade. Margaret Tafoya died in 2001 at the age of 96, but her influence remains visible in the work of her descendants and in the high regard still given to classic Santa Clara blackware. The Tafoya family remains one of the most influential pottery lineages at Santa Clara Pueblo.

Wedding Vase
11″ x 7″
$8500

Her pots are more than beautiful objects. They carry the quiet strength of a woman who stayed true to the clay of her ancestors and turned everyday tradition into lasting art.

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#1 Saint Francis Church Plaza
Ranchos de Taos, NM 87557

575.758.0504

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Contact us directly to discuss and evaluate your collection. If you’re an artist, contact us about the possibility of selling your art on consignment or direct wholesale purchase.

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