Garcia, Greg

The son of Lydia Tafoya, of Santa Clara and Santiago Garcia, of Ohkay Owingeh, Greg Garcia was born in 1961 and passed on in 2010. When he was 14, his grandmother, Severa Tafoya, began teaching him how to make pottery the traditional way.

Greg made blackware and redware vases, jars and bowls. He liked to carve the avanyu (the mythic Tewa water serpent), bear paws and geometric designs on his pieces.

Greg was a participant in the Santa Fe Indian Market for about 20 years, earning several ribbons for his classic shapes and highly polished pieces there. He only participated in the Eight Northern Pueblos Arts & Crafts Show for a few years in the late 1990s.

Well-known potters Tina Garcia and Virginia Garcia were his sisters. Because their heritage was 1/2 Santa Clara and 1/2 Ohkay Owingeh, they all signed their pieces with their names plus “Santa Clara/San Juan.”