Lucy Lewis | Also Known As: Lucy Martin Lewis
Lucy Lewis' pots are usually under twelve inches and either polychrome or, more commonly, black on white. Lewis decorated her pots with geometric abstractions inspired by traditional Native American designs on a ...
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Typical Marks
About
- Biography
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Lucy Lewis' pots are usually under twelve inches and either polychrome or, more commonly, black on white. Lewis decorated her pots with geometric abstractions inspired by traditional Native American designs on a restrained or undecorated background. Her early designs are inspired by Anasazi andMogollon culture pottery shards. As her career progressed she became increasingly adept at drawing fine-line surface decoration in the style of Mimbres pottery.
Lewisused clays only available to members of the Acoma Pueblo and fired her white earthenware pots outdoors in a dung-fueled kiln. She coil built her pots and finished them using a coating of white slip applied with handmade tools. She later began to incorporate pottery shards into her works.
She learned basic potting techniques from her great-aunt and members of her family continued to make traditional pottery after her death.
Many of Lewis' unsigned pots were sold along Route 66 during her lifetime. In the 1950s, when she started entering competitions, Lewis began signing her pots.
" - Apprenticeships & Residencies
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-1961
Pond Farm, Marguerite Wildenhain
- Primary Work Experience
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United States Marines-GI Bill
Other
- Public Collections
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Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona
Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma
Idyllwild Arts Academy, Idyllwild, California
Lowell D. Holmes Museum of Anthropology, Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas
Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, New Jersey
Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, New Mexico
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
Smithsonian Institution American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C.
Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- Bibliography
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Arnold, David L. "Pueblo Pottery: 2000 Years of Artistry." National Geographic (November 1982).
Dillingham, Rick. Seven Families in Pueblo Pottery. Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, Albuquerque, New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press, 1974.
__________], "The Pottery of Acoma Pueblo," American Indian Art 2, no.4 (1983).
Dittert, Alfred E. and Fred Plog. Generations in Clay: Pueblo Pottery of the American Southwest. Flagstaff, Arizona: Northland Press, 1980.
Herzog, Melanie. "Pueblo Pottery: Continuity and Change: Lucy Lewis.” School Arts Magazine (January 1991).
Oleman, Minnie. "Lucy Lewis: Acoma's Versatile Potter.” El Palacio 75, no. 2 (1968).
Peterson, Susan Harnly and Fred Kabotie. Lucy M. Lewis: American Indian Potter. New York, New York: Kodansha International, 1984.
Peterson, Susan, "Remembering Two Great American Potters: Lucy Lewis and Maria Martinez.” Studio Potter (December 1994).
______________, "Matriarchs of Pueblo Pottery," Portfolio, (November/December 1980).
Tanner, Clara Lee. Southwest Indian Craft Arts. Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press, 1968.
- CV or Resume
- Website(s)
Citation: Lucy Lewis, "The Marks Project."
Last modified April 29, 2026. https://www.themarksproject.org/artists/lucy-lewis
