van Dyk Gallery
- Lucy M. Lewis - Acoma Pottery
Lucy M. Lewis passed away on March 12, 1992 at a supposed age of 93. Her
year of birth is not known. She spent nearly all her life atop the high
mesa of Acoma Pueblo, making pottery since the age of 7. She is largely
responsible for the revival of Mimbres black-on-white pottery designs
which are more than 1,000 years old. She was famous, as well, for her
exquisite polychrome designs and her fine-line and lightning designs.
Lucy Lewis was one of the most widely respected potters from her pueblo.
She was the last of the Acoma matriarchs. She followed pueblo tradition
in every step of pottery production—offering prayers of thanks to Mother
Earth for the clay, taking only as much clay as she needed, working the
clay with only her hands, forming the vessel from coils of clay,
scraping the walls with tools fashioned from gourds, painting the vessel
with slips and paints made from clay and vegetal sources and, finally,
firing the finished pieces in an outdoor handmade kiln.
From
Adobe Gallery