Angela Baca learned pottery-making techniques from her mother, Severa Tafoya, a well-known potter of Santa Clara Pueblo.
According to Angela, her mother made melon bowls with large ridges, and Angela decided to make them with smaller ridges.
Her initial work won first prize at the Santa Fe Indian Market, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and she decided to focus on melon bowls, both red and black, although her work includes other designs, as well.
She is considered to be the matriarch of the melon potters.
A photograph of Angela Baca at the Santa Fe Indian Market in 1991 is available in the Palace of the Governors Photo Archives Collection.

Four of her children have carried on their mother's tradition of making melon vessels.
Sons Darryl and Alvin Baca craft melon bowls and melon jars; son David "Yellow Mountain" Baca is known for his squash design melon bowls and melon seed pots; daughter Leona Baca primarily makes miniature versions of melon bowls.

My family influenced my work.
I like it all: gathering the clay, making the pots and polishing.

— Angela Baca, in Neil Chapman, Santa Clara Portraits: A Proud Tradition (1999), page 14
Angela Baca learned pottery-making techniques from her mother, Severa Tafoya, a well-known potter of Santa Clara Pueblo. According to Angela, her mother made melon bowls with large ridges, and Angela decided to make them with smaller ridges. Her initial work won first prize at the Santa Fe Indian Market, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and she decided to focus on melon bowls, both red and black, although her work includes other designs, as well. She is considered to be the matriarch of the melon potters. A photograph of Angela Baca at the Santa Fe Indian Market in 1991 is available in the Palace of the Governors Photo Archives Collection.
Four of her children have carried on their mother's tradition of making melon vessels. Sons Darryl and Alvin Baca craft melon bowls and melon jars; son David "Yellow Mountain" Baca is known for his squash design melon bowls and melon seed pots; daughter Leona Baca primarily makes miniature versions of melon bowls.
My family influenced my work. I like it all: gathering the clay, making the pots and polishing.
— Angela Baca, in Neil Chapman, Santa Clara Portraits: A Proud Tradition (1999), page 14
Angela Baca