The daughter of Linda Cain and sister of Autumn Borts-Medlock, Santa Clara artist Tammy Garcia is one of the most renowned pueblo potters living today. Her distinctive, polished vessels feature designs inspired by pueblo life, animals, stories and traditional imagery, bridging the gap between traditional and contemporary. And with each new idea she conceives, Garcia’s pottery continues to evolve in new directions.
Left: Pencil drawing of heartline bear. Right: Uplifted, native clay, native clay slips
Running from June 1 to 28, King Galleries in Santa Fe will host the exhibition Tammy Garcia: Beauty by Design, highlighting several new works in clay, along with drawings and an in-gallery talk about her creative process. As Garcia creates less than 10 pieces of pottery per year, the upcoming show offers collectors an exciting chance to see brand new works by the artist as well as learn about her techniques firsthand.
“I’m inspired by the forms and designs of historical pueblo pottery…When making pottery there is intentional placement of every coil. I build jars in [all] different sizes and shapes,” says Garcia.
Paths to Grow, native clay, native clay slips
“[Once] I have a design in mind, [I’ll] make proportions on graph paper. Then, with a pencil, draw on the pot,” she explains of her process. “Clouds on the shoulder will look scalloped after I carve. I’ll remove clay using a metal flat tool. As the clay dries, I achieve more intricate detail by refining and smoothing areas using various tools. When the clay is dry, I sand then polish. Polishing is burnishing with a smooth stone over a clay slip. I learned this process from my mom and grandma.”
Paths to Grow features flora and fauna designs with inlaid minerals on several areas of the vessel. Her piece Uplifted depicts the form of a bear surrounded by flowers, insects and other imagery. Her accompanying pencil drawings, many of them on gridded paper, show her evolution from raw idea to finished pot as ideas are born on paper and then translated to clay with metal tools.
Left: Pencil drawing of a butterfly design. Right: Wings of Beauty, native clay, native clay lisp
“[Beauty by Design] is a rare opportunity to see new works by Tammy Garcia, but also the design process that leads her to her creative designs,” says King Galleries owner Charles King. “We usually think about the technical side of making pottery like coil-building, carving or polishing, but Tammy has more design stages before she even touches the clay. Seeing a design on paper and then how it evolves to match the shape of the jar, the demands of the clay and artistic evolution is a way to understand the intensity and unique process of Tammy’s art.”
Left: Spring Awakening, native clay Right: Dragonflies and Wild Roses, native clay, native clay slips
Garcia’s award-winning pottery can be found in permanent collections and museums around the world, including the Denver Art Museum, the Heard Museum and the Autry Museum of the American West. —
King Galleries
June 1-28, 2025
130 Lincoln Avenue, Suite #D, (480) 440-3912
www.kinggalleries.com
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