Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico

Santa Clara Pueblo (, , ), also known as the Village of Wild Roses, is a census-designated place (CDP) in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States and a federally recognized tribe of Native American Pueblo people. As of the 2020 census, Santa Clara Pueblo had a population of 930.

The pueblo is a member of the Eight Northern Pueblos, and the people are from the Tewa ethnic group of Native Americans who speak the Rio Grande Tewa language. The pueblo is on the Rio Grande, between Ohkay Owingeh (formerly San Juan Pueblo) to the north and San Ildefonso Pueblo () to the south.

Santa Clara Pueblo is famous for producing hand-crafted pottery, specifically blackware and redware with deep engravings. The pueblo is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Geography

Santa Clara Pueblo is located approximately 1.5 miles south of Española on NM 30.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 2.1 square miles (5.4 km), all land.

Demographics

The 2010 census found that 1,018 people lived in the CDP, while 1,182 people in the United States reported being exclusively Santa Claran and 1,425 people reported being Santa Claran exclusively or in combination with another group.

Government

The administration of the Pueblo of Santa Clara in 2025 is:

Governor: James Naranjo
Lieutenant Governor: Charles Suazo

History

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Tewa people lived in the Pueblo area for millennia before they met Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate and his exploration party on July 11, 1598. Pueblo archaeology shows that Ancestral Puebloans lived in the general region as far back as 1200 BC.

First visited in 1541, a segment of Francisco Coronado's expeditionary force met with the residents of the nearby Caypa Pueblo. After annexation of the region into the Spanish Kingdom, and as part of the 1601 expansion of Oñate's colonial capital, a chapel was built there by 1617. Fray Alonso de Benavides established a mission in 1628. The comprehensive public high school is Española Valley High School.

There is a Bureau of Indian Education (BIE)-affiliated tribal elementary school, Kha'p'o Community School, in Santa Clara Pueblo.

Arts

thumb|Pottery making at Santa Clara Pueblo, 1916

Among the arts practiced at Santa Clara Pueblo, pottery is one of the most well-known. There are a number of well-known ceramic artists from Santa Clara. Four approaches are used in the decoration of the majority of Santa Clara Pueblo ceramics: painted designs, impressed patterns, incised designs, and resist-firing with incised or sgraffito designs.

Notable tribal members and residents

thumb|Double-handled Santa Clara bowl with [[Awanyu design, by Florence Browning, 1996]]

Angela Baca, matriarch of the Santa Clara melon potters
Gregory Cajete, author and educator
Jody Folwell, potter
Tammy Garcia, ceramic artist and sculptor
Luther Gutierrez, potter
Margaret Gutierrez, potter
Joseph Lonewolf, potter
Jody Naranjo, artist
Michael Naranjo, artist and sculptor
Nora Naranjo Morse, artist and filmmaker
Rose Naranjo, potter and matriarch
Linda and Merton Sisneros, potters
Paul Speckled Rock, potter and bronze sculptor, gallery owner
Anita Louise Suazo, traditional potter
Rina Swentzell, architect, artist and activist
Roxanne Swentzell, ceramic and bronze sculptor, Native plant activist
Rose B. Simpson, mixed-media, ceramic, and performance artist
Margaret Tafoya, Santa Clara traditional potter
Pablita Velarde, Santa Clara painter
Nathan Youngblood, potter