The Dr. Samuel R. Poliakoff Collection of Western Art

Lucy Lewis was one of the most widely respected potters from her pueblo, and 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, temporary handmade kiln.