Adobe Gallery Blog

Nathan Youngblood is known for his contributions to public service. He 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.

With all this public service, Youngblood finds time to make exquisite pottery in the tradition of his famous Tafoya family. He is the grandson of Margaret Tafoya and son of Mela Youngblood. His sister is Nancy Youngblood. Youngblood is known for his creative designs and technical precision. His burnishing is very fine and he finely sands the edges of his carved designs. Like his grandmother, he believes in the importance of traditional firing one pot at a time, thus greatly diminishing the chance of damage to pottery that may have taken 300 to 400 hours of preparation.