Santa Clara is located in North-central New Mexico with a long lineage of artists and artist families who

are highly prolific. Since 1930, women have been experimenting with designs of matte (lusterless) black on polished black like those first made in San Ildefonso pueblo.

Pottery from Santa Clara is characterized by its black and red surfaces, though many artists use the black-on-black style of pottery--a decoration that comes only from the high polish given to the black surface by painstaking rubbing. Two distinctly Santa Clara shapes are the wedding vase and the high necked wide mouthed jar with a squat body. They are also known for the black animal figurines that are molded, not coiled.