Santa Clara Pueblo Red Mellon Pottery By David Baca

ca. 1991

4.875″ H x 4.5″ D

Hand Coiled Red Melon Ridge Design with .25″ D Opening

In Very Good Condition

Santa Clara Pueblo Red Melon Pottery by David Baca is a beautiful example of traditional Native American pottery from Santa Clara Pueblo in New Mexico. David Baca (born 1951), also known as “Yellow Mountain,” is an award-winning potter from a renowned family of artists.

He is the son of the late Angela Baca (19272014), who is widely regarded as the matriarch of the melon pottery style, and the grandson of Severa Tafoya. David learned the craft by watching and working with his mother and grandmother. He specializes in carved red and black melon jars (and sometimes seed pots), featuring vertical ribs that mimic the textured surface of a melon, often with a high stone-polished finish for a glossy sheen. These pieces are hand-coiled using natural clay, shaped, carved, polished, and fired outdoors in the traditional Pueblo method.

David’s red melon pottery typically showcases multiple deep, evenly spaced ribs (examples include pieces with 16 to 32 ribs), giving them a distinctive, elegant, undulating form. He has won awards at prestigious events like the Santa Fe Indian Market.