Wind River Pottery Artist Bios: Q - Z

 Marilyn Ray

Marilyn Ray was born in 1954 into the Acoma Pueblo. She began experimenting with clay at the age of 12 after observing her grandmother, the late Dolores S. Sanchez, work with her clay. At 18, Marilyn had mastered all the fundamentals of her craft, and is now renowned as one of her generations greatest storyteller makers. Her storytellers are some of the largest, most complex and innovative sculptures of this style available.

Other than her storytellers, Marilyn specializes in sculptures of small children, nativities, animals, and friendship bowls. She gathers her clay and other natural pigments from within the Acoma Pueblo. The colors used on her sculptures are also provided from plants and minerals.

Marilyn combines her skills in both traditional pottery making and figurative work. She signs her sculptures as: Marilyn Ray, Acoma, N.M. followed by a hand drawn lizard. She is related to: Rebecca Lucario, Judy Lewis, Diane Lewis, Carolyn Concho (sisters), Katherine Lewis (mother), and Sharon Bernard-Lewis (sister-in-law).

Elmer Red Starr

Elmer Red Star was born in the Sioux Nation (1937-2025). He later on married Harriet Tafoya of Santa Clara Pueblo, and adopted a Santa Clara inspired pottery style. 

His signature style was the red or black Sgraffito vases with turquoise inlay. His pieces depicted contemporary Santa Clara Pueblo, highly polished designs with animal depictions and won awards many times including at the Santa Fe Indian Market.  

Norman Red Star

Norman Red Star (Lakota Sioux) was born in 1955. He was inspired to continue the long lived tradition of pottery by his Uncle, the famous potter Elmer Red Starr, from Santa Clara Pueblo who has been producing pottery with sgraffito designs since before 1976.

Norman began working with art at the age of 16. He started out with crafting bead work, and at the age of 24 he began hand-carving sculptures on stone. At the age of 26, he began painting, and at the age of 40 he began crafting pottery.
Norman specialized in hand-crafting the traditional Santa Clara pottery with sgraffito etchings. He got his ideas from hunting and Mother Nature herself. He etched animal legends on this pottery, and accented his pottery with turquoise stones.

Norman Red Star has passed away, but he will live on in the beautiful creations he brought to this world. 

Anita Suazo

Anita, born in Santa Clara in 1937, since 1979 has consistently won many awards including at the Santa Fe Indian Market. Anita's mother Belen was one of the innovators of finely crafted polychrome redwares. She was a first cousin to Margaret Tafoya. Growing up in a family of traditional potters, Anita began learning Santa Clara pottery techniques as a child from her mother. 

She is known for her blackware and multicolor over polished red surface designs. Anita has taught traditional pottery techniques at the University of New Mexico and the University of California at Davis. 

Her pottery can be found in collections of the Heard Museum in Phoenix, the Smithsonian Institution, the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos, the Museum of New Mexico in Santa Fe, and in collections around the world. 

Ida Sahmie

Ida Sahmie, born in the Dine (Navajo) nation in 1960, began making pottery in 1990 and is still active today. Ida portrays traditional Navajo ceremonies and imagery from sand paintings on her unique pottery. All the clay and materials are gathered from Navajo land. The pottery is all coil built, stone polished, painted with natural clay, and native fired. She is the only Navajo potter creating this unique style of ethnographic pottery.

Ida is married a Hopi, Andrew L. Sahmie Sr who is a potter of story tellers himself and she uses Hopi-Tewa pottery techniques as well but mainly sticks to her Navajo designs. Her mother-in-law is Priscilla Namingha Nampeyo. 

Ida’s work has been featured in multiple magazines including Arizona Highways, The Focus, Cowboys and Indians, Southwest Art, and New Mexico Magazine. Plus books such as the Fourteen Families, the Enduring Traditions, the Treasures of the Navajo Folk Art. In addition to the books and magazines, she been to the Santa Fe Indian Market,The Heard Museum, The Fountain Hills Show, The Tucson Art Show and many private shows/lectures. 

Myron Sarracino

Myron Sarracino, (Kaa Ooa Dinn Naa), is a full blooded Native American Indian. He was born into the Laguna Pueblo in 1967. He began hand coiling pottery in 1984 at the age of 17. Myron was inspired to continue the long lived tradition of hand coiling pottery by Verna Soloman, his friend, and Thelma and Sandy Sarracino, his grandparents. His friend Gladys Paquin was his teacher and taught him all the fundamentals of pottery. 

Myron uses mostly prehistoric swirl patterns as well as fine thin linework. Myron copies ancient designs from old broken pottery shards found on ancient grounds. Myron uses all natural pigments to construct his pottery. 

Myron has won many awards including Eighth Northern Pueblo Indian, 1993 1st place Gallup Indian Ceremonials, New Mexico State Fair, Art and Craftsman Show Best in Traditional Pottery and more. 

Dee Setalla

Dee J. Setalla was born and raised in Snowbird Canyon Arizona, and is a member of the Hopi-Tewa Bear Clan. Dee began experimenting with pottery at the age of 6, learning from his Mother, Pauline Setalla, and his Aunt, Eunice "Fawn" Navasie, both well known Hopi potters. They taught him all the fundamentals of pottery making the traditional way.

Dee specializes in handmade traditional Hopi pottery. He gathers all his materials from within the Hopi Reservation. Dee paints traditional designs of birds, moths, butterflies, bear claws, clouds, and rain on his work. Natural pigments found within the Hopi Reservation also provide the colors used on his pottery. Dee uses the walpi polychrome yellow and beige with blushes, characteristic of Hopi pottery. Dee signs his pottery as: D.S., Hopi, followed by a bear paw symbol to denote his Clan origin. 

Noreen Simplicio

Noreen started her career in pottery by making mud pies and mud pots. Her first class in pottery-making was in 1977 at Zuni High School. After leaving high school, Noreen met an Acoma woman by the name of Angelina Medina. She inspired Noreen to further develop her skills and venture into the increasingly competitive world of Pueblo pottery.

Noreen's unique pottery forms are characterized by distinctive designs that combine traditional Zuni pottery symbols with contemporary design elements of her own creation. She uses fine lines, birds and animal symbols. The scenes depicted on her work often stress the universal harmony that should be maintained among all living things.

She specializes in miniatures, bowls, seed bowls with lizards and vases, as well as pottery sculptured with scenes of ancient pueblo dwellings that are fully detailed with tiny figures of Pueblo inhabitants. She is a well-recognized and reputable artist and has been the recipient of numerous rewards for her art.

Lori Smith

Lori Smith was born near Gallup, NM, and began developing her craft when she was 13, in 1994. Learning by watching rather than being directly taught, she would practice her craft in secret. Soon, Lori felt she could take the art of etching pottery to another level.

Lori's process begins with an unfired pot which becomes a canvas for her designs. After drying for a day, the red or white pot is then sanded, painted, underglazed, etched and, finally, fired. Some pots are then finished with gold leaf or cabochons of turquoise, coral, onyx and /or opal. Lori likes to think her pots contain the triple gifts of Beauty, Harmony, and Balance - essential values in the Navajo concept of hozho. 

Dena Suina

Dena Suina was born in 1961 into the San Felipe Pueblo. Dena married into the Pueblo of Cochiti in the 1980s. She sparked an interest in sculpting clay figures while observing her mother-in-law, Louise Suina, hand coil and hand paint her beautiful clay sculptures. Louise taught Dena all the fundamentals of how to hand coil all types of sculptures using traditional methods.

Dena specializes in handmade and hand painted contemporary storytellers. Her sculptures are all hand coiled, hand pinched, and hand painted. She makes a wide variety of sizes and adds very intricate detail to her clay sculptures. Dena has established herself as a fine artisan and continues to amaze collectors with her intricate efforts. She signs her pottery as: Dena M. Suina, Cochiti/San Felipe Pueblo, N.M.

Bernice Suazo Naranjo

Bernice Suazo Naranjo is originally from Taos Pueblo and is married to Tito Naranjo. She is a sister-in-law of Jody Folwell and Nora Naranjo-Morse. She is also the mother of Caroline Elliot, Dusty Naranjo and the grandmother of Johnathan Naranjo. 

She has won numerous awards for her incised pottery at Santa Fe Indian Market and the Heard Museum Market. Bernice Suazo Naranjo is known for her elegant hand coiled and finely detailed sgraffito carving on a dramatic sienna finish. Both the carving and sienna finish require multiple specialized and time-consuming steps to achieve. She signs her work with a hallmark which represents her name in Tiwa, meaning “Stripe Rock. 

Bernice has “learned to really respect the clay. And I think that comes natural because we are all raised in an environment so that we’re in tune with nature. It’s a cycle.”*
“When you lose a. pot, you lose yourself. Sometimes you have a special feeling for a pot and you hate to fire it because you are so afraid it will break, but that’s part of the beauty of firing outdoors. You have got to learn to cope with it. I like the idea that not everything is going to survive, because that’s the way it is—part of being a potter.”*
*As quoted in Talking with the Clay: The Art of Pueblo Pottery by Stephen Trimble. 

Betty Tafoya 

Betty Tafoya (1933-1988), was the wife of Lee Tafoya, a son of the Tafoya family legacy matriarch, Margaret Tafoya. Their children include Linda Tafoya, who is also a well-known potter. Lee taught Betty how to make pottery and they often collaborated on pottery throughout their career, however, she also made pieces on her own. Lee usually carved the pots, and Betty did the polishing. Their pottery became renowned for their beauty and gunmetal finishes. Betty’s pottery can be found in numerous books, including “Born of Fire”. 

Betty’s pottery often featured the traditional avanyu water serpent; as well as all of the traditional methods. 
 
Betty was one of the few anglo women making pottery in Santa Clara pueblo at that time. She taught Linda Tafoya, her daughter, pottery making. Linda is also a well-known potter who makes beautiful, deeply carved, and highly polished pots. 

Betty and Lee Tafoya 

Betty Tafoya (1933-1988), was the wife of Lee Tafoya (1926-1966), a son of the Tafoya family legacy matriarch, Margaret Tafoya. Betty and Lee work together and cosign their pottery. Their children include Phyllis Tafoya, Melvin Tafoya, and Linda Tafoya, who is also a well-known potter. 

Lee taught Betty how to make pottery and they often collaborated on pottery throughout their career. Lee usually carved the pots, and Betty did the polishing. Their pottery became renowned for their beauty and gunmetal finishes. Betty and Lee’s pottery often featured the traditional avanyu water serpent; as well as all of the traditional methods. 

Betty and Lee Tafoya are a master duo who make beautiful, deeply carved, and highly polished pots. 

Gwen Tafoya

Gwen Tafoya was born in 1965 into the Santa Clara Pueblo-Tewa. She began experimenting with pottery making at the age of 6 - starting with hand-coiling small bowls and pots, using traditional methods. Gwen's mother, Mary Agnes Tafoya taught Gwen all the fundamentals of hand coiling traditional Santa Clara Pottery.

Gwen specializes in hand coiling the traditional Santa Clara pottery, carved and etched by her. She gathers her natural pigments from within the hills of the Santa Clara Pueblo. Gwen especially likes to make seed pots because she has more room to etch her favorite designs of hummingbirds or flowers on the top of the pottery. Gwen also has a special part in her heart for the wedding vase because of its meaning.

Gwen signs her pottery as “Gwen Tafoya SCP”. She is related to the following artists: Angela Baca (aunt), Madeline Naranjo (aunt), Belen Tapia (aunt),Tina Garcia, Greg Garcia, Virgie Garcia, and Paul Speckled Rock (cousins).

Helen Tafoya-Henderson 

Helen born (1961) in the Jemez Pueblo learned the art of pottery from her mom, Vangie Tafoya, whose great grandmother Maria Sanchez of San Ildenfonso was a cousin of Maria Martinez, and then married Juan Pedro Colaque, taking her bloodline to Jemez Pueblo. 

Helen learned in the Jemez way from her mother, which was to develop your own style freely, and Helen became known for her hummingbird designs. She often likes to use sgrafitto and inlay stones to make her hummingbirds pop, which they do. 

Helen is a muli award-winning artist and also went on to work with the Towa Language Immersion programs in the schools of Jemez Pueblo. She signs as H.T. Henderson. 

Legoria Tafoya 

Legoria Tafoya, born (1911-1984) of the Santa Clara Pueblo, and the oldest sister of Pablita Velarde won numerous prizes for her pottery. After attending St. Catherine’s Indian School in Santa Fe, she married Pasqual Tafoya. She Learned to make pottery in the 1930’s and began selling her pottery to help her family supplement income.

 Before traditional Santa Clara carved blackware, Legoria initially was making animal figures such as lions, bears, birds and turtles. 

She passed on her craftsmanship to her daughter, Celes Tafoya, and Legoria's work is in museum collections around the world, and in the hands of collectors, admirers, lucky finders, and anthropologists. 

Linda Tafoya-Sanchez 

Linda Tafoya, granddaughter of Margaret Tafoya and daughter of Betty and Lee Tafoya, was born in 1962 in the Santa Clara Pueblo. Her father Lee taught her how to form vessels and use his method of firing, she made her first pieces by the time she was 12 years old. 

Linda married an Oyenque of San Juan Pueblo and did pottery there for a while using micaceous clay on her pieces, but later returned and remarried to be Linda Tafoya-Sanchez. 

She still creates traditional Santa Clara red and black pottery with some San Juan imagery. Deep carving, light carving, sgraffito, red and black ware, Avanyu serpent motifs, and all of what she's learned along the way from traditions. She also taught her sons, Antonio and Jeremy, the traditional Santa Clara way to make pottery vessels. 

LuAnn Tafoya

LuAnn Tafoya was born into the famous Tafoya family of Santa Clara Pueblo in 1938. The daughter of Margaret Tafoya and granddaughter of Serafina Tafoya, LuAnn grew up learning to make pottery from master potters. She began producing pottery in her late teens. Like her famous mother and grandmother, LuAnn specializes in larger pieces of red, black, and brown, all highly polished and exquisitely carved. She is also a master of the outdoor firing process. 

She has made jars almost three feet tall, a feat not easily accomplished. For large jars, the clay mix needs more temper and volcanic sand from Santa Clara. Building a large pot takes more time as it sometimes requires that one coil be allowed to dry before the next one is added. LuAnn uses a screwdriver and small pieces of lard when she is carving. Polishing is a drawn-out process. 

Her son, Daryl Whitegeese has learned from his mother and continues in the family tradition. LuAnn Tafoya has won numerous awards for her pottery, including "Best of Pottery" and "Best of Show" at Santa Fe Indian Market. Her work can be found in the permanent collection of numerous museums around the country. 

Margaret Tafoya

Maria Margarita "Margaret" Tafoya (Corn Blossom), was born (1904 – 2001) in the Santa Clara Pueblo. Margaret is one of the founding figures and considered the matriarch of what the Tafoya family dynasty of highly acclaimed potters are today. Taught by her parents (Sara Fina Gutierrez Tafoya and Jose Geronimo Tafoya), Margaret and her mother were both known for making unusually large vessels with finger carvings of the bear paw, water serpent motifs and kiva steps around their jars. 

Margaret and her husband Alcario did the pottery process together just as her parents did together and raised nine children, many grandchildren, as well as great grandchildren. This includes the next generation of well known pottery names including Lee Tafoya, Luann Tafoya, and Shirly Tafoya and more. 

Margaret received numerous achievement awards including the Best of Show Award in 1978 and 1979 at the Santa Fe Indian Market, 1984 National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship in recognition award, recognized and awarded as a Master Traditional Artist in 1985, and in 1992 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the national Women's Caucus for Art. 

Thomas L. Tenorio

Thomas L. Tenorio was born into the Pueblo of Kewa (Santo Domingo) in 1963. Thomas felt that traditional pottery making was dying within his Pueblo, and was inspired to try and resurrect this long-lived legacy.

Thomas is a self-taught potter who learned by reading textbooks, conducting interviews, and by trial and error. Thomas gathers most of his natural pigments within his reservation or outside of it- and he cleans, hand mixes, hand coils, and shapes and fires his pottery outdoors in the traditional way.

Thomas has created his own unique contemporary flair of cut-out or carving and has added new colors to the traditional Santo Domingo style. He makes a wide variety of shapes and sizes and paints birds, flowers, fish, and traditional designs. 

Damian Toya

Damian Toya was born into the Pueblo of the Jemez in 1971. Damian is the son of Maxine Toya, one of the finest Jemez potters of our time. Maxine was the inspiration behind his interest in learning to work with clay, which he has been doing with since the age of 5.

Damian specializes in handmade Melon Swirl Pots. He gathers his materials (natural pigments) for his masterpieces from the grounds within the Jemez Pueblo. He cleans, mixes, hand coils, shapes, sands, fires outdoors, and polishes his own pottery.

He was quoted as saying “All the pots that I create are my favorite, because each one is a part of me.” He signs is art as: Damian Toya, Jemez, followed by the corn sign to denote his clan origin. Damian is related to: Laura Gachupin (Aunt), Marie G. Romero (Grandmother), the late Persingula M. Gachupin (Great Grandmother), and his sister Camille Toya. Damian is a member of the Corn Clan.

Belen Tapia 

Belen Tapia (1914-1999) Belen Tapia was a daughter of Tomas and Maria Tafoya. She was a niece of Serafina Tafoya and first cousin of Margaret Tafoya. She was active making pottery from about 1935 to 1995. She began making pottery in the 1930s, credited as an innovator of Santa Clara polychrome redware pottery. However, by the 1950’s she was making primarily carved pottery with unique designs and forms. By the 1980’s she was again making polychrome pottery, bringing her artistry full circle. 

 Her designs took on the forms of animals, wedding vases, melon jars, plates, cylinders, vases and engagement baskets. The colors; peach, blue, ochre, and white are all natural clay slips. Her second husband, Ernest Tapia, traveled to hidden corners of the Pajarito Plateau and gathered the blue-grey, umber tan, salmon orange and white clays that he ground very fine to make the paints they both used to decorate her pots. 

Belen participated in the Santa Fe Indian Market from 1979 to 1995, winning a number of ribbons including a Best of Division and a First Place in 1980. Belen Tapia's legacy continues to influence and inspire contemporary potters from the Santa Clara Pueblo. 

Katherine Victorino

Katherine Victorino hails from the Acoma pueblo in New Mexico. She started learning the craft of pottery at age 9, learning from her stepmother Beverly Garcia. Her work includes black and white lightning designs and Tularosa (prehistoric) designs.

Katherine also paints in the 'old designs' in various olla shaped bowls. Such patterns include the sunflower, lightning, butterfly, feather, star fan, zig-zag, flower, and other traditional patterns.  

Sandra Victorino

Sandra Victorino was born in 1958 into the Pueblo of the Acoma. She was inspired to learn the art of hand coiling pottery from admiring her famous Aunt, Dorothy Torivio, who is one of Acoma’s finest potter’s still alive today.

Sandra specializes in hand coiled pottery with spiral designs like the step-to-step, checker board, snowflake, half-snowflake, and fine line designs. She will also paint Kokopelli on her pottery from time to time. Sandra signs her pottery as: Sandra Victorino, Acoma, NM.

Sandra is related to the following artists: Edna Chino (mother), Brian Chino (brother), Greg Victorino (brother-in-law), and the famous Dorothy Torivio (aunt).

Minnie Vigil

Minnie Vigil (1931-2024), from a talented family of potters, active making pottery since 1955, was a daughter of Petra Gutierrez and a sister to noted potters Gloria Garcia (GoldenRod), Thelma Talachy, and Lois Gutierrez. She passed the art of her pottery down to her son, Tim “Sunbird” Vigil. 

Minnie has won awards at Santa Fe Indian Market for years in recognition of her fine workmanship. She specializes in Polychrome wares. Some of her pottery is slipped in red clay and stone polished and some is slipped in matte tan clay and not polished. 

Her favorite designs were rain clouds, rainbows, sky bands, clouds and bear paws. Her work has been illustrated in nearly every book describing Santa Clara potters, and won numerous awards including at the Santa Fe indian market, Minnie is recognized as one of the most iconic potters of Santa Clara. 

Myrtle Young 

Myrtle Young (1903-1984) was a Hopi-Tewa potter who was active in the marketplace from 1930 to 1980. Myrtle was the older sister of Garnet Pavateah (1915-1983). Like Garnet, Myrtle also specialized in fine polished pieces and was commonly known for her large piki bowls. Myrtle made exceptionally thin, evenly formed and graceful pottery. She left some plain while others she decorated with Sikyatki-Revival designs. 

Such large bowls oftentimes were designed to be used in a Hopi household. Myrtle passes her art of pottery on to one child, Harriet Nasonhoya. Myrtle’s pottery can be found in museums such as the Museum of Northern Arizona and the Heard Museum. 

Pottery Artists

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