Dolores Lewis & Emma Lewis
Daughters of Lucy Lewis

Aug. 1-8, 2010
Tuition: $565, Materials: $50,
Pueblo Tour: $10, Traditional Feast: $25.
Beginning to Advanced Class
limited to 15 participants
Class Schedule | Notes on Schedule
Differences & Similarities
Learn More about Lucy Lewis
Special Features! | Lodging | ACOMA Image

Lucy Lewis is regarded as the matriarch of Acoma pottery and alongside Maria Martinez, is one of the best known Southwestern potters. She started making pottery around the turn of the century, continuing a tradition dating back hundreds, if not thousands of years.

      We are extraordinarily privileged to have two of Lucy's daughters lead us in this workshop. Both Dolores and Emma are dedicated to using the authentic processes and techniques that have been traditional to Acoma potters for centuries. They will lead us through each of the time honored steps necessary to the creation of authentic Acoma pottery. After demonstrating their methods, they will give us a lot of personal attention as we prepare the clay, tools, and paints, and then begin our traditional pottery making experience.

This experience is dedicated to the authentic processes and techniques that have been traditional to Puebloan Potters for Centuries. You will be led through each time-honored step necessary to create authentic pottery. Along the way we will share stories of the Ancestors, for these experiences are as much about Culture as they are about Clay. In these classes, you will:

• Work with Native Clay Bodies, dug by your teachers from the same clay pits used by Lucy Lewis.

• Hand form 2 small pots with the coil/slab method which are then highly burnished with a smooth  river stone and slipped with white kaolin.

• Create your very own ‘yucca brush’ from the rib of the Yucca plant, about 4 " long, with one end chewed to form a brush. This sounds primitive, but it is actually the most efficient way to paint a straight line on a curved surface.

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Lucy Lewis, ca. 1950

• Paint Traditional designs on your pots, using both mineral and vegetal paints you will learn to grind by hand, using a Metate.

• Fire your pots, with traditional open-pit firing, using either cow-dung or wood chips.

• Participants in this class will take home some fine, small examples of this magnificent pottery, made with our own hands.

View a National Geographic Article: Pueblo Pottery, 1982

Traditional
Feast
at 6 PM

NOTES ON SCHEDULE

Reception: An opening Wine/Cheese reception will be held at the Kachina Lodge.Your teachers will be in attendance, dressed in Traditional Dress, and introductions will be made. Family members and friends traveling with students are welcome to attend. Afterward, students may break up into groups, or travel as individuals to several nearby restaurants. There is a full service restaurant in the hotel for those who have had enough travel for one day !

Class times: Class will be from 9 - 5 each day with a lunch break to go to one of several nearby restaurants. Students also have the option to bring a snack/lunch to eat in the clay studio.

Wednesday: We leave early to join Dolores and Emma for the Traditional Corn Dance & Feast of San Lorenzo at Santo Domingo Pueblo. This centuries old event, honoring the Corn Mother who feeds us all, features beautiful, costumed dancers, their feet bared for direct contact with Mother Earth. This event will be seen continuously from 10 AM – around 3 PM since there are 2 Pueblo groups which alternate: Turquoise Group & Pumpkin Group. There are many booths with traditional food for sale, as well as art & craft items to purchase. Because Santo Domingo Pueblo is located near the ancient Cerrillos turquoise mines, the village people have a distinguished history of making fine jewelry and heishi. The Santo Domingo people are still great traders, very much like their Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon ancestors. Many roadside stands with jewelry, pottery and silverwork for sale can be found during a visit to this pueblo. Look for these special items and others during the Festivals. NOTE: Photography is not permitted at this sacred event. Also, Both Men & Women are requested not to wear shorts. Bring a Hat.

Saturday : Our pots will dry overnight on Friday. In the morning we head for Acoma in individual cars and will need an early start for the 5 hour drive.  There is an optional lunch at the Yaaka (corn) café at Acoma before our 3:30 pueblo tour. We check into our Casino accommodations at 5 PM and get ready for the 6 PM Traditional Feast
About Acoma - "Sky City"
More about Acoma at Wikipedia

Drive Times: 
The Santo Domingo Pueblo is located 25 miles south of Santa Fe, off I-25 at the Santo Domingo exit. The drive is approximately 2 hours South of Taos, and, one half an hour SW of Santa Fe.
Our final day students will need to drive in their own vehicles from Taos to Acoma, approximately 5 hours south-west.

Final Day (Sunday): Our traditional Dung Firing will take place early in the morning at the Lewis home, located in the valley beneath the 367’ mesa.  Participants may leave with their pots around noon.  It is about a 2 hour drive to the Albuquerque airport, so a 3 PM flight is the earliest possible.

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