About the Artist

(Born 1938, Santa Clara Pueblo) Camilio Tafoya, a potter known for his sgraffito decoration, was her father.  Her brother was Joseph Lonewolf, another famous potter.  Her father’s sister was Margaret Tafoya, the pottery matron of Santa Clara.

 “Although she also carves on larger pots, Grace is best known for her exquisite miniatures, round or egg-shaped hollow clay balls with no opening or bottles with tiny stoppers, on which she incises in fine relief cameos or allover designs of an Indian story, a flock of birds flying, bunches of flowers or groups of animals.” Taken from Susan Peterson’s book Pottery by American Indian Women The Legacy of Generations

 Preferring traditional steps in preparing her clay and creating her vessels to include firing them using outdoor pit firing, Medicine Flower's creativity is evident in her distinctive choices of decoration.   “Grace has experimented with prospecting different clays in order to have a variety of colors for her pottery.  So far, she says, all she has found that will hold their color in the heat are clays that fire iron red, rust-colored, buff, blue, green and the black that comes from the smothered firing.” Pottery by American Indian Women The Legacy of Generations