Santa Clara Pueblo Black Polished Pottery Wedding Vessel by Toni Roller [SOLD]

This excellent black wedding vessel by award-winning Santa Clara Pueblo artist Toni Roller is decorated solely with bear paw elements on front and back.  The remainder of the vessel was left in the highly-polished black to be enjoyed without distractions of design. The burnishing of the entire wedding vessel is most exceptional and flawless.  The firing produced a beautiful even black coloration. The vessel is signed with the artist’s name, pueblo designation, and dated 10/84.

Toni Roller was born in 1935 and is a daughter of Margaret and Alcario Tafoya, and granddaughter of Sara Fina and Geronimo Tafoya.  

Toni began her career as a pueblo potter at age six by making clay marbles and throwing them into the fire when her mother, Margaret Tafoya, was firing pottery. From there she blossomed into one of the finest potters at Santa Clara Pueblo.  She is still actively making pottery and greeting guests at her home at the pueblo.

Condition: this Santa Clara Pueblo Black Polished Pottery Wedding Vessel by Toni Roller is in very good condition

Provenance: from a collection of contemporary pottery of a family from New Jersey

Recommended Reading: Pueblo Indian Pottery 750 Artist Biographies by Gregory Schaaf

Relative Links: Santa Clara Pueblo, Sara Fina Tafoya, Margaret Tafoya, Virginia Ebelacker, Jennie Trammell, Mela Youngblood, Luann Tafoya, Shirley Tafoya, Toni Roller