Jennifer Tafoya learned to work with clay from her mother, Emily, and the art of sgraffito from her father Ray (1956-1994). Her great grandmother was Severa Tafoya (1890-1973), known for her traditional, deeply carved Santa Clara pots. Jennifer made small pots and polished clay balls when she was starting out. Today her traditionally coiled and fired pots and figures, etched with fine sgraffito and colored with natural ores and slips, are highly prized by collectors.
Velociraptor, native clay, native clay slips
Her exhibition of clay dinosaurs will be shown at King Galleries in Scottsdale, Arizona, beginning February 20. As a young girl, she was more interested in dinosaurs than dolls. She recalls, “If my mother would give me a Barbie Doll, I’d give it to my sister. I collected dinosaurs. I think working with animals that lived millions of years ago is fascinating and it’s fun learning how they lived.”
Jar with T-Rex, native clay, native clay slips
“I’ve always had a love for the outdoors,” she says. “My father would take me with him when he went fishing. I was always playing with lizards and bugs and stuff. I found them fascinating. I go out on fossil hunts and find seabed fossils, shells, fish, shark’s teeth. I found one small dinosaur bone, too, which I had authenticated by a scientist. I also researched the dinosaurs in books.”
She gathers and prepares her clay in the traditional way, and when she is out looking for clay or out fishing, she looks for material to use for the colors she applies after firing. “I sometimes see a rock with a neat color. I scratch it with my thumbnail to see if it’s soft enough to scrape. I apply water and see if it sticks to my skin. If it sticks well enough, I take it home and test it further on a broken pot to see if I can use it in my work.”
Spinosaurus, native clay, native clay slips
Ankylosaurus, native clay, native clay slipsShe has found clays with iron oxide in nearby Abiquiu with iron oxides. Depending on their composition, the clays are yellows, orange reds and greens which, when they’re fired, turn orange or red. One vein of yellow clay fires red and another fires burgundy. To get greens for her designs, she finds clays with a copper base.
She uses the colored minerals to finish the designs on her pieces that are based on traditional Santa Clara designs and those made by her father.
King Galleries
Opens February 20
7077 E. Main Street, #20, Scottsdale, AZ 85251
www.kinggalleries.com
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