At Santa Clara Pueblo, husband and wife artists Chris Youngblood and Jennifer Tafoya create ceramics that celebrate a pottery tradition handed down through generations of potters which they bring to the Santa Fe Indian Market. They dig for their own clay, sift it, and form it into pots, vases, and jugs before placing them into a pit fire sparked by kindling. “We cultivate all our own materials,” Chris Youngblood says. “It’s a big thing for us to continue the traditional way of firing. Every color you see on our pieces is a natural pigment. We focus on maintaining the tradition, and trying to carry that on.”

Chris Youngblood and Jennifer Tafoya Bring Their Traditional Ceramics to Indian Market Yet Again

Youngblood’s family has taken part in the Indian Market since the market’s beginning in 1922. “It’s like the Super Bowl of our world,” he says, recalling going to market with his mother, Nancy, since he was three years old. He says she would bring six or eight pieces to sell, and they would all be gone within the first five minutes of market. Today he and Tafoya make and sell their own individual work, as well as pieces they create together.

Youngblood takes hours to shape the clay into water jugs, vases, and oblong shapes before the two fire them. Afterwards, Jen spends more precious hours etching and painting each piece. “She’s able to add this ultra-realism into the work,” Youngblood says. She adorns the works in elements from nature, like longhorn sheep, billowing clouds, or the tendrils of a climbing plant. The pair have been collaborating for around 12 years, something they now do more often than working separately. With the time and dedication it takes to complete one vessel, they make only around 25 a year.

With an art like pit firing, there’s never a guarantee the clay forms will make it out of the fire whole. And the bigger the piece, the more chance things can go wrong. “When you fire traditionally, you’re taking a risk. The larger you get, the more susceptible you are to the elements,” Youngblood explains. “There’s a certain level of emotional detachment you have to have for your work until it’s finished.” He says getting too invested in a piece too early can end in heartbreak. These pieces take hundreds of hours to complete from start to finish, and once they hit the fire, the work is just beginning. It’s part of what makes their pieces such treasures.

Indian Market remains a highlight in the couple’s year. It’s a time to meet and speak with collectors, to explain the processes behind the traditions he they keep, older than time immemorial. “You’re surrounded by people who love art, and who want to collect,” he says. “It’s like being a Marvel hero at a comic con.”

Head to this year’s Indian Market August 14-15.

Story by Maria Manuela
Photography by Gabriella Marks

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