Santa Clara

Santa Clara (Kha'p'oo Owinge)

Santa Clara is a Tewa-speaking Pueblo located along the Rio Grande north of Santa Fe, near Española, a site occupied since the late 14th or early 15th centuries. Santa Clara is known for the majesty and beauty of its landscape as well as its ancestral home, the Puye Cliff dwellings, a famed historical and archeological landmark located near the modern Pueblo. The Santa Clara people have preserved many of their ancient traditions, with a strong tribal government, a strong commitment to education and a prosperous economy. Santa Clara takes great pride in its rich legacy of pottery-making and today is home to one of the most vibrant Pueblo communities of potters creating high-quality traditional vessels. Their handcrafted blackware and redware with intricate, precise engravings are one of the most widely collected forms of Pueblo pottery. The technical excellence, innovation and imagination of Santa Clara potters have helped sustain and promote Pueblo pottery around the world. In addition to pottery, the Pueblo has produced notable sculptors and painters, and there are also artists creating embroidery, beadwork and weaving.