Nathan Youngblood, Santa Clara Pueblo Potter

Santa Clara Pueblo artist Nathan Youngblood is known for his creative pottery designs and technical precision.  His burnishing is exceptional, and he finely sands the edges of his carved designs.  Like his grandmother, Margaret Tafoya, he believes in the importance of traditional firing one pot at a time, thus greatly diminishing the chance of damage to pottery pieces that may have taken 300 to 400 hours of preparation.  He is the son of Mela Youngblood.  His sister is Nancy Youngblood. 

Nathan Youngblood (1954- ) Deer Path has sat on the Board of Directors of the Wheelwright Museum in Santa Fe and volunteered his time at the annual Wheelwright auction.  He has also served on the boards for the Gallup Inter-tribal Indian Ceremonial and the Southwestern Association on Indian Arts (SWAIA), the producer of Santa Fe Indian Market.  He has been a board member of the American Crafts Council in New York, on the advisory board for the Scottsdale Center for the Arts and the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe.  He has lectured at the National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C., the Denver Museum of Natural History, and Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe as well as numerous other venues.

Reference: Pueblo Indian Pottery: 750 Artist Biographies by Gregory Schaaf. 

TAGS: Santa Clara Pueblo,Santa Fe, Pottery, Margaret Tafoya, Mela Youngblood, Nancy Youngblood