Lucy M. Lewis

Small decorative plate with a classic Chaco--style design, by Lucy M. Lewis. On display at the Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff Fineline black-on-white olla by Lucy M. Lewis, ca. 1960–1970s, collection of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art Lucy Martin Lewis (1890/8–March 12, 1992) was a Native American potter from Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico. She is known for her black-on-white decorative ceramics made using traditional techniques.

Biography Lucy Martin Lewis was born in Sky City, a mesa in Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico, to Lola Santiago and Martin Ortiz. Though she celebrated her birthday on November 2, her birth year, while unknown, was probably in the 1890s. Lewis' designs were inspired by Ancestral Puebloans (Anasazi), including the Mimbres designs of the Mogollon as well as the Chacoan culture. Her work first began to be recognized outside of the Acoma Pueblo in 1950, when she won the a blue ribbon at the annual Gallup Intertribal Ceremonial.

Before an artist can get started conceptualizing the design for a pot, the pot itself must be made. And before the pot can be made, the clay must be mined. Traditionally, clay has been mined from sites known only to each Pueblo tribe; the clay is considered sacred because it comes from the earth. After being mined, the dry raw material is sifted, pulverized, and tempered with potsherds that have been ground into powder to make the clay strong. Acoma clay, traditionally, is gray in color; its strength enables it to form thin walls of pottery. After the pot is shaped and dried, the form is further defined by hand-scraping the clay, and then sanded smooth with a stone. Then, a white slip is applied, in a few iterations, and polished. Without the slip, the mineral paints would run off the pot. Next, the design is applied using mineral paints and a brush made from yucca. Yucca holds more paint and makes finer lines than regular brushes bought at a store. Finally, on a day when the weather is right for firing, a small number of finished pieces are carefully pit-fired. Results are rarely 100%. Some pieces will end up cracked, the background on others will be gray rather than white (these will need to be re-fired), but a few will be successfully fired.

Awards Lewis received awards for her work from the state of New Mexico, the College Arts Association, the American Crafts Council and the Honolulu Academy of Fine Arts. Cooper Hewitt, the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, Lowell D. Holmes Museum of Anthropology, National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Brown University, and the Spurlock Museum at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.