Mary Cain

"I guess mostly it [pottery making] came from my mother [Christina Naranjo]. When my grandmother [Serafina Tafoya] was living I was very young, and she would talk to us about it. When you’re very young, you don't want to stay with it. When I started making pottery later with my mom, I didn't want to stop. I started maybe in the late 1920's and signed some of them Mary Tafoya. We went to California from 1956 to 1973 and I went back and forth and worked with pottery because I wanted to stay with it. In the early l970s I worked again with my mom.
I don't want to leave the work. I just love to do it. It makes you feel so good—you’re doing something for yourself, not dependent on others. It makes you feel happy.
Later on, when the kids all came back out here [Santa Clara], I asked if they were interested in pottery and each started and now they're all in it. After they got started, they got real interested and still do it." -1994

Mary Cain is now one of the oldest Santa Clara Pueblo Potters still making pottery. She is 90 years old and is still producing quality pots.