Santa Clara Pottery Today by Betty LeFree [SOLD]

Santa Clara Pottery Today by Betty LeFree

University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque

Soft cover, first edition, 1975; 3rd paperback printing, 1976.  114 pages, illustrated

Santa Clara Pottery Today combines extensive historical research with interviews granted by three Santa Clara potters and their husbands (Helen and Kenneth Shupla, Belen and Ernest Tapia, and Flora and Ramon Naranjo).  During the interviews, the author recorded and photographed each step—from clay pit to market—in the making of contemporary Santa Clara pottery.  Collecting and preparing the clay, making slips and paints, modeling various kinds of vessels, sanding, smoothing, slipping, polishing, decorating, firing—all are described and illustrated so thoroughly that the reader can experiment with the Santa Clara techniques himself if he wishes.

Drawing on a variety of published and unpublished sources, the author also provides background on the evolution of Santa Clara pottery and identifies changes that have occurred in materials and techniques.

Potters, collectors, scholars, and aficionados of southwestern Indian arts and crafts will find a wealth of information in this fully illustrated book.