Medicine Flower, Grace

Grace Medicine Flower was born to Agapita and Camilio Tafoya at Santa Clara Pueblo in 1938. Grace grew up in the company of some of the most famous and accomplished Puebloan potters on Earth, including her aunts Margaret Tafoya and Christina Naranjo.

After graduating from high school and working as a secretary for a while, Grace decided to begin working with clay. She was producing pottery for the marketplace by the early 1960s. She and her brother, Joseph Lonewolf, began developing the sgraffito technique to etch the surfaces of their pottery in the late 1960s. Grace said it really opened her eyes when she sold her first piece of sgraffito pottery for $11, significantly more than she got for any of her other, more traditional pieces.

For years most of her pottery disappeared into private collections before it got to the greater marketplace. She hasn’t produced any pottery in a while.

In 2006 the Southwest Association for Indian Arts awarded Grace their Lifetime Achievement Award.

Some Exhibits Grace’s works have been part of

• Gifted! Recent Additions to the Heard Collection. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. December 18, 2015
• Something Old, Something New, Nothing Borrowed: New Acquisitions from the Heard Museum Collection. Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona. April 2, 2011 – March 18, 2012
• New Works in Clay with Artists in Attendance. King Galleries. Scottsdale, Arizona. March 4, 2010
• Crafted to Perfection: the Nancy & Alan Cameros Collection of Southwestern Pottery. Rockwell Museum of Western Art. Corning, New York. November 23, 2007 – May 18, 2008
• Choices and Change: American Indian Artists in the Southwest. Heard Museum North. Scottsdale, Arizona. June 30, 2007
• Innovators in Contemporary Native Clay: Grace Medicine Flower, Polychrome Perfection. King Galleries of Scottsdale. Scottsdale, Arizona. Marcy 1 – 3, 2007
• Home: Native Peoples in the Southwest. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. Opened May 22, 2005
• Breaking the Surface: Carved Pottery Techniques and Designs. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. October 2, 2004 – October 2005
• The Collecting Passions of Dennis and Janis Lyon. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. May 1 – September 2004
• Every Picture Tells A Story. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. September 20, 2002
• Hold Everything! Masterworks of Basketry and Pottery from the Heard Museum. November 10, 2001 – March 10, 2002
• Images, Artists, Styles: Recent Acquisitions from the Heard Museum Collection. Heard Museum North. Scottsdale, Arizona. July 2001 – December 2002
• Lovena Ohl: An Eye for Art, A Heart for Artists. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. January 15, 2000 – August 15, 2000</li.
• Scottsdale Indian Artists of America Show: James Little, Grace Medicine Flower. Lovena Ohl Gallery. Scottsdale, Arizona. January 19 – 21, 1999
• The Legacy of Generations: Pottery by American Indian Women. Heard Museum. Phoenix. Arizona. February 14 – May 17, 1998
• New Works in Clay: Joseph Lonewolf, Grace Medicine Flower. King Galleries of Scottsdale. Scottsdale, Arizona. February 12, 1998
• The Legacy of Generations: Pottery by American Indian Women. The Museum of Women and the Arts. Washington, District of Columbia. October 9, 1997 – January 11, 1998
• Recent Acquisitions from the Herman and Claire Bloom Collection. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. January 11, 1997 – July 1997
• Grace Medicine Flower, Lu Ann Tafoya: An Exhibition of New Works. Gallery 10. Scottsdale, Arizona. February 15, 1996
  Rain. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. June 19, 1993 – July 1995
• Fifth Annual Hollywood Premiere. Four Seasons Hotel, Los Angeles, California. Gallery 10. November 23-24, 1991
  1990-1991 Season Showings of American Indian Art. Lovena Ohl Gallery. Scottsdale, Arizona. February 8, 1991
• Magic in Clay: Artistic Miniatures of the American Southwest. University of Nebraska State Museum. Lincoln, Nebraska. 1991
• Fourth Annual Hollywood Premiere. Four Seasons Hotel, Los Angeles, CA. Gallery 10. November 17-18, 1990
• Indian Market Week Shows: Grace Medicine Flower, Richard Zane Smith, Dorothy Torivio. Gallery 10. Santa Fe, New Mexico. August 10 – 17, 1990
• Special Evening. Lovena Ohl Gallery. Scottsdale, Arizona. July 5, 1990
• New Works from Santa Clara and San Ildefonso. Gallery 10. Scottsdale, Arizona. March 1, 1990
• Grace Medicine Flower, Charles Supplee, Dennis. Lovena Ohl Gallery. Scottsdale, Arizona. January 20, 1989
• American Indian Art: the Collecting Experience. Elvehjem Museum of Art. Madison, Wisconsin. May 7, 1988 – July 3, 1988
• Individual Statements of Style. Gallery 10. Scottsdale, Arizona. February 25, 1988
• 1986 -1987 Season Showings of American Indian Art. Lovena Ohl Gallery. Scottsdale, Arizona. April 10, 1987
• The Santa Fe Indian Market Expanding Exhibit. Morning Star Gallery and Gallery 10. Santa Fe, New Mexico. July 26 – August 31, 1985
• Reception Honoring Harvey Begay and Grace Medicine Flower. Lovena Ohl Gallery. Scottsdale, Arizona. February 22, 1985
• Indian Market East: Grace Medicine Flower, Jody Folwell, Nancy Youngblood Cutler, Nathan Youngblood. Gallery 10. New York City, New York. April 12 – 28, 1984
• Reception Honoring Grace Medicine Flower and Larry Golsh. Lovena Ohl Gallery. Scottsdale, Arizona. December 16, 1983
• The Ceramics of Grace Medicine Flower & Jody Folwell. Gallery 10. Scottsdale, Arizona. February 24 – March 9, 1983
• Contemporary Pottery: Grace Medicine Flower. Gallery 10. Scottsdale, Arizona. February 20 -March 13, 1981
• American Indian Art in the 1980s. The Native American Center for the Living Arts. Niagara Falls, New York. 1981
• One Space, Three Visions. Albuquerque Museum. Albuquerque, New Mexico. 1979
• Show and Sale of Pottery by Joseph Lonewolf and Grace Medicine Flower. Old Territorial Shop. Scottsdale, Arizona. November 26, 1977
• Joseph Lonewolf, Grace Medicine Flower. Adobe Galleries. Las Vegas, Nevada. March 24-26, 1977
• The Joseph Lonewolf Family Show. Tanner’s Indian Arts. Scottsdale, Arizona. November 20 – 23, 1975
• Grace Medicine Flower. Ashton Gallery. Scottsdale, Arizona. March 16, 1975
• Tony Begay Memorial Show. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. February 2-17, 1974. Note: exhibition and auction to benefit the children of Tony Begay; includes artwork by Tony Begay and many of his Indian artist friends
• Private Showing of Pottery: Grace Medicine Flower. Tanner’s Indian Arts. Scottsdale, Arizona. March 30-31, 1972