(1963-Present)
Pueblo: Santa Clara/ San JuanOhkay Owingeh Pueblo
Virginia Garcia was born in 1963 and has been making pottery since 1987. She specializes in water jars and bowls with bear paws, usually in red, but also in black and dark plum. She is self -taught artist that has won awards at Santa Fe Indian Market and Eight Northern Pueblos Arts & Crafts Show. She is the granddaughter of Severa Tafoya & Cleto Tafoya, daughter of Lydia Tafoya & Santiago Garcia and the sister of John Garcia, Tina Garcia and Greg Garcia. She says that her favorite part of the process is the polishing. And her favorite form is the bear paw olla. She gathers all of her materials from the reservation and fires all of her pottery outdoors in the traditional way.
“I mainly do traditional style because it’s more beautiful. My grandmother started with traditional. My first pots were pretty bad. I watched the different ways my sister, Tina, worked. I work with water jar forms, round bear paw bowls, and wedding vases. I do both black and red ware, and I don’t do carving.”
Adapted from: Chimayo Trading Del Norte Southern Pueblo Pottery: 2,000 Artist Biographies by Gregory Schaaf.