Lucy Martin Lewis, Acoma Pueblo Pottery Matriarch

Lucy Martin Lewis, born around 1898 and passing away on March 12, 1992, spent nearly all her life atop the high mesa of Acoma Pueblo, making pottery since the age of seven. She is largely responsible for the revival of the 1,000-year-old Mimbres black-on-white pottery designs and was also famous for her exquisite polychrome, fine-line, and lightning designs. As one of the most widely respected potters from her pueblo and one of the last Acoma matriarchs to live full-time at the Pueblo, she followed pueblo tradition in every step of pottery production. She offered prayers of thanks to Mother Earth for the clay, took only as much clay as she needed, worked the clay with her hands, formed vessels from coils of clay, scraped the walls with tools fashioned from gourds, painted the vessels with slips and paints made from clay and vegetal sources, and fired the finished pieces in a handmade outdoor kiln. Lucy signed her pottery as Lucy M. Lewis.

Lucy Lewis image source: Adobe Gallery

Reference and Recommended Reading: LUCY M. LEWIS American Indian Potter by Susan Peterson

TAGS: Acoma Pueblo, Pueblo Pottery