Celestina Naranjo

Santa Clara Pueblo

Celestina Naranjo was a potter from Santa Clara Pueblo. She lived from 1912 to 1999. She learned the traditional Santa Clara way to make pottery from watching and working with her mother, Pasqualita Tafoya, as she was growing up.

Celestina was making pottery for the marketplace by the early 1930s and made pottery almost the rest of her life. She had an excellent reputation for her redware and polychromes, and blackware plates and bowls.

She signed most of her pieces: "Celestina Naranjo Santa Clara". Sometimes she added: "Pue" or "Pueblo" to that.