Mudwomen: art in clay by pueblo Women

11. Priscilla Nampeyo Hopi (1924-2008) Seed Jar, 1970s, detail

MUDWOMEN: ART IN CLAY BY PUEBLO WOMEN

HOPI ARTISTS

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ampeyo of Hano, along with Maria Martinez, is considered one of the first matriarchs of Pueblo pottery. Nampeyo’s descendants, of whom there are many, currently boast forty-three pottery artists, including her great-grandchild Priscilla Nampeyo. Priscilla Nampeyo continues to use patterns and styles she learned from her great-grandmother, who was inspired by archeological digs which unearthed Sikyátki ruins and potsherds. Most common to Nampeyo’s Sikyátki-inspired pottery are un-slipped yellow clay, fine-line geometric patterns, and stylized birds, butterflies, katsina imagery (Figure 11).

13. Rose Simpson Santa Clara (1983- ) Bones II, 2013

SANTA CLARA ARTISTS

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urrounded by a family of artistic potters, including her mother Rina Swentzell, Roxanne Swentzell began shaping pottery at a young age.

The size and weight of some of her larger expressive works require clay more robust than Santa Clara Pueblo’s soft clay, so Swentzell often employs micaceous and commercially produced clay. While her figures are radically different in shape and size from more traditional Santa Clara pottery, Swentzell still employs the coiling technique as she builds up the shape of a figure. In Mask Maker (Figure 12), for example, only the fingers and toes are solid; the torso and limbs remain hollow. Rather than a vessel for food, Swentzell’s vessels house emotive and vulnerable human expressions.

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12. Roxanne Swentzell Santa Clara (1962- ) Mask Maker, 1994

ose Simpson is the only daughter of Roxanne Swentzell. She works in a variety of artistic media—including hip hop, creative writing, dance, and even automotive body repair—but she continues to return to clay.

As she explains in an interview: “Well, the reason for that is the essence of the material, its energy; it is rooted in a place, the Southwest, the environment I come from. Clay means a relationship to the land we walk on, that nurtures us, to the houses we build, the vessels we create. It is part of our environment and livelihood.” This concern with the environment is likely influenced by her time working with the Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute, co-founded by her mother. Bones II (Figure 13), like Simpson’s other mask productions, envisions a post-apocalyptic style that is both “warrior fashion” and protective barrier with its jutting bones that pierce the space between viewer and mask.

14. Rose Simpson Santa Clara (1983- ) The Answer that Ended Creation F, 2011

Simpson’s work, while much more aggressive and consciously deconstructed than her mother’s, still manages to communicate very human emotions and thoughts. The Answer that Ended Creation F (Figure 14), the last in an A through F series, depicts a highly introspective solitary figure, contemplating a deeply metaphysical question, not unlike Swentzell’s Mask Maker. Unlike those of her mother, however, Simpson’s artwork is more revealing of her technique, which while reminiscent of the traditional coiling technique is much more loose, allowing the viewer to see how Simpson builds up each piece with strips of clay. Pueblo culture considers clay as an integral part of human origins, and this notion is underscored by Simpson’s use of clay in a piece that contemplates creation itself.

EXHIBITION CHECKLIST

1. Lucy Lewis Acoma (1898-1992) Title unknown (chicken), 1930-1992 Earthenware with slip Gift of John A. and Mary Pat Carlen 2008.2.236

8. Maria and Julian Martinez San Ildefonso (1887-1980, circa 1880-1943) Vase, c. 1900 Clay and slip Gift of Barbara B. Leyendecker in memory of Liston E. Leyendecker, 2014.6.9

2. Emma Lewis Mitchell Acoma, b. 1931-d. 2013 Jar, ca 1966 Clay with pigment Anonymous Loan

9. Maria Martinez San Ildefonso (1887-1980) Title unknown (plate), 1920-1943 Blackware with black slip Gift of Jan and Richard De Vore, T319

3. Sarah Garcia Laguna/Acoma, b. 1928 Pot, 1996 Clay with pigment Anonymous Loan

10. Maria Martinez San Ildefonso (1887-1980) Bowl, c. 1950 Clay and slip Gift of Barbara B. Leyendecker in memory of Liston E. Leyendecker, 2014.4.6.10

4. Rebecca Lucario Acoma, b. 1951 Black and White Plate, 2003 Clay with pigment Gift of Polly and Mark Addison, 2013.3.17 5. Amanda Lucario Acoma, b. 1984 Seed Pot, 2015 Gift of Dr. Elmo Frickman 2016.5 6. Janice Ortiz Cochiti, b. 1956 Circus Pair—Tom and Susie, 1997 Clay with pigment Gift of Polly and Mark Addison, 2013.3.181-2 7. Lisa Holt and Harlan Reano Cochiti, b. 1980; Santo Domingo, Kewa, b. 1978 Untitled (frog), 2002 Clay with pigment Gift of Polly and Mark Addison, 2015.5.3

11. Priscilla Nampeyo Hopi (1924-2008) Seed Jar, 1970s Natural paint on clay Gift of Gus and Betty Gendler, 2014.2.4 12. Roxanne Swentzell Santa Clara (1962- ) Mask Maker, 1994 Clay and paint Gift of Polly and Mark Addison, 2015.5.7 13. Rose Simpson Santa Clara (1983- ) Bones II, 2013 Ceramic Gift of Polly and Mark Addison, 2015.5.5 14. Rose Simpson Santa Clara (1983- ) The Answer that Ended Creation F, 2011 Ceramic and adobe brick Gift of Polly and Mark Addison, 2013.4.1

GALLERY GUIDE “It was the women’s part of living to hold things together. Men could build up or tear down houses and ditch banks, but women could put clay and sand together to make pottery. That was part of a woman’s life, to make things whole.”

Maria Martinez, recalling the words of her mother, Reyes Peña

Clay in the Pueblo world is the flesh of the earth itself, endowed with a life and consciousness of its own. Many origin stories of Pueblo peoples involve clay-fired vessels—whether water pots, seed pots, or figurines—that enabled humans to emerge into the present world and to create and sustain life. As life-giving vessels, pottery was historically the domain of women, although men often helped gather clay and paint the exterior surface of the pots. Today Pueblo women continue to shape their pottery by hand, using coils of clay to build up the walls of their vessels before firing them in an outdoor pit or oven. The knowledge required to gather, temper, form, and fire clay is extensive, and women often pass this knowledge down to their daughters, granddaughters, and nieces. This exhibit draws on Roxanne Swentzell’s concept of the Mud Woman, who passes knowledge of earth and clay down through generations, to consider lineages of women potters from five different Pueblos in the Southwest.

Emily Moore and India Lovato, Curators

5. Amanda Lucario Acoma, b. 1984 Seed Pot, 2015 8. Maria and Julian Martinez San Ildefonso Pueblo (1887-1980, circa 1880-1943) Vase, c. 1900

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ebecca Lucario is known for her dazzling fineline paintings (Figure 4), all done with a traditional yucca brush. Fineline designs were popularized in Acoma in the 1950s based on painting styles from Ancestral Pueblo (“Anasazi”) pottery, which Acoma potters had long studied in the potsherds they found in the desert around their mesa. Lucario credits her technique to her maternal grandmother, Delores Sanchez.

1. Lucy Lewis Acoma (1898-1992) Title unknown (Chicken), 1930-1992

3. Sarah Garcia Laguna/Acoma, b. 1928, detail Pot, 1996

ACOMA ARTISTS

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ucy Lewis is regarded as the matriarch of contemporary Acoma pottery. In the early twentieth century, when many tourists and collectors bypassed Acoma Pueblo in favor of pueblos closer to Santa Fe, Lewis continued to make pottery as her mother had taught her, keeping alive the knowledge necessary to work the difficult Acoma clay. Lewis loved to paint her pots with animal figures based on ancient Mimbres animals that she found on potsherds around Acoma; she also created animal figurines like this chicken (Figure 1). Emma Lewis is Lucy Lewis’s daughter. This pot (Figure 2) features a lightning bolt design associated with rain—a crucial source of water in the desert.

arah Garcia (Figure 3) is the sister-in-law to Dolores Lewis Garcia, Lucy Lewis’s daughter. Although she is originally from Laguna Pueblo, Garcia was “inducted” into the Lewis family’s tradition of pottery at Acoma, and she is now widely recognized as an Acoma potter. “We believe in the power of the clay,” stresses her sister-in-law Dolores. “We ask our own people to taste the clay and to taste the white slip. When we give demonstrations we also ask the students to do that.

It smells so good, it tastes so fresh. We make a prayer when we take the clay and when we use it. The pots are spirits. The clay is sacred. You can eat it raw, and you are going back to it when you die.”

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manda Lucario is the daughter of Rebecca Lucario, and she continues her mother’s fineline painting style. Seed pots (Figure 5), as the name implies, are small pots used to store seeds of particular platns for the next season’s planting; they also serve as symbolic keepers of life. As one Acoma potter explained, “The hole of a seed pot must be big enough for a single kernel of corn to enter but small enough to keep a mouse out.”

7. Lisa Holt and Harlan Reano Cochiti, b. 1980; Santo Domingo, Kewa, b. 1978 Untitled (frog), 2002

COCHITI ARTISTS

the matte texture that contrasted with the polished surface. The radiating feather design was inspired by Julian’s time spent at the Museum of New Mexico, where he observed old Mimbres designs. The couple’s innovation and skill led to widespread popularity and the revitalization of pottery as a fine art form and income-generator at the San Ildefonso Pueblo, as well as surrounding pueblos.

After Julian’s death in 1943, Maria Martinez continued to produce her distinctive pottery (Figure 9) with the help of her sister, Clara; daughter-in-law, Santana Martinez; and her son, Popovi Da. Martinez created pottery until she died at age ninety-three.

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anice Ortiz comes from a large family of Cochiti potters, including her mother, Seferina Ortiz, and her grandmother, Laurencita Herrera. Ortiz’s brother, Virgil Ortiz, is an important male figure in contemporary Pueblo pottery; his recent show at the Denver Art Museum showcased clay figures cast in a futuristic narrative that reimagined the 1680 Pueblo Revolt against Spanish invaders (Figure 6).

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isa Holt is the niece of Janice Ortiz. Like some other Pueblo potters, Holt creates much of her work in collaboration with her husband, Harlan Reano (Santo Domingo/Kewa Pueblo), who paints the vessel after Holt has built it. The black paint on this piece is made from Wild Spinach/Rocky Mountain Beeweed (Figure 7).

SAN ILDEFONSO ARTISTS Before his death in 1943, Maria Martinez’s husband Julian was a major contributor to Maria’s pottery practice, with a hand in pioneering the black-on-black style that made the couple so famous.

2. Emma Lewis Mitchell Acoma (1931-2013) Jar, ca 1966, detail

4. Rebecca Lucario Acoma, b. 1951 Black and White Plate, 2003

6. Janice Ortiz Cochiti Pueblo, b. 1956 Circus Pair—Tom and Susie, 1997

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aria Martinez would refine and knead the clay, shape the pottery, cover the piece in clay slip, and meticulously rub the surface with a stone, producing a mirror-like shine before firing the piece (Figure 8). After some experimentation, Julian Martinez began to paint over the fired, polished pieces with additional slip, producing

9. Maria Martinez San Ildefonso Pueblo (1887-1980) Title unknown (plate), 1920-1943