Adobe Gallery | August 7-29, 2020 | Santa Fe, NM

Past masters

Gallery Preview: Adobe Gallery

Helen Shupla (Santa Clara, 1928-1985) was known for her melon bowls and won a first prize at the 1978 Santa Fe Indian Market. She married a Hopi katsina carver, Kenneth Shupla (1918-1988), and the two traveled regularly between Santa Clara and Hopi. She complemented her Santa Clara pottery techniques with Hopi techniques and discovered the higher plasticity of Hopi clay.

The ribs of traditional Santa Clara melon jars are carved from the wet coil-built pot. Shupla developed a technique of pushing the forms out from the inside as she built the pot. Her melon jars are in collections from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Tony Da (San Ildefonso, 1940-2008), San Ildefonso Pueblo red sgraffito carved small pottery jar, clay, 2½ x 3¼”A fine example of her redware melon jars is in the exhibition, Potters of the Past: Santa Clara and San Ildefonso Pueblos, at Adobe Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, August 7 to 29. It includes early contemporary and late historic works.

Al Anthony began Adobe Gallery in Albuquerque in 1978. Serving in the Air Force, he was stationed in Albuquerque and would often explore the area. He went into a shop and made a discovery that would change his life. “I was looking around and saw this big black shiny bowl like a big salad bowl. It struck me as the prettiest thing I’d ever seen. It was undecorated, just plain black.” It was a bowl by Maria Martinez (San Ildefonso, 1887-1980). It was signed “Maria Poveka,” indicating the unpainted, polished blackware was made by her alone. He paid the dealer $10 a month for 10 months and took the piece home.

Helen Shupla (Santa Clara, 1928-1985), Santa Clara Pueblo ribbed redware pottery jar, clay, 6¼ x 7 ½”

There is a Maria Poveka vessel in the exhibition. The gallery notes, it is a “classic Tewa vessel shape—a wide body with a long, tall neck that curves outward, just slightly, at the rim—that has been used successfully for centuries.” Blackware was common in Tewa villages but Maria and her husband Julian (San Ildefonso, 1879-1943) perfected it and developed their well-known painted black on black pottery.

Their grandson, Tony Da (San Ildefonso, 1940-2008), is represented by a red jar with an Avanyu sgraffito design. Da began his artistic life as a painter but moved in with his grandmother in 1966 and began making pottery. He learned and excelled quickly. In 1967, he took eight pieces to the Gallup Inter-tribal Indian Ceremonials and won seven first prizes and one second prize.

Maria Martinez (San Ildefonso, 1887-1980), polished black San Ildefonso Pueblo pottery jar, clay, 8 x 7½”

A highlight of the exhibition is a spectacular 17-inch tall polished and carved blackware jar by Margaret Tafoya (Santa Clara, 1904-2001). Tafoya learned pottery making from her mother Sara Fina (1863-1949) and her father Geronimo (1863–1955). She supplemented the family income making pots, but pots that were built in the traditional way and embodied a spiritual connection to the earth as well as the highest level of craftsmanship.

Tony Da (San Ildefonso, 1940-2008), San Ildefonso Pueblo red sgraffito carved small pottery jar, clay, 2½ x 3¼”