Lucy Martin Lewis, Bowl

Lucy Lewis was born and grew up within the Acoma Pueblo on Sky City mesa. Lucy had no formal education since there were no schools on the mesa. But, she did help in the home and learned the various steps and chants that were crucial in order to participate in rituals and ceremonies in the mesa. Lucy learned the skills of pottery making when she was only 7 or 8 years old by watching her great-aunt Helice Vallo and other Acoma Pueblo women as they created traditional pottery for the kiva and for personal uses. Lucy was never exposed to influences that were off the Pueblo. She found her creative inspiration by walking through the Acoma grounds and discovering various Mimbres-style shards on the ground. The shards were characterized by the distinctive black lines on white slip—this design and style inspired Lucy to develop her style and methods of making pottery. Lucy is known for reviving Mimbres black-on-white designs. She married Toribio when she was a teenager and had 9 children. The Acoma Pueblo is a relatively isolated location and Lucy didn’t travel very much. But, in 1950 she showed her pieces in a juried competition outside the pueblo. She received several blue ribbons in 1950 from the Annual Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial Gallup, NM. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, she received several awards from the American Crafts Council, the College Art Association, the State of New Mexico and the Honolulu Academy of Fine Arts. Lucy continued to make pottery well into her 80s, and some of her daughters and grandchildren are carrying on her tradition of creating pottery through the methods and designs that she taught them.
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