The way that Lucy makes pottery
is a long, tedious, and time-consuming process. Emphasis is on
quality rather than quantity. The following is a very abbreviated
version of how it is done.
Clay Preparation
The clay is usually mined
under big overhanging sandstone cliffs usually near the tops
of the mesas in many places throughout the Southwest. It us brought
home and soaked in buckets of water for over a month and is screened
through many mashes of screen with the final mash being as fine
as cloth. Ground mica temper is mixed with it. After the final
screening the soupy mixture of clay is poured on drying racks
covered with sheets and allowed to dry to the right consistency
to make pottery. Then it is stored in big plastic trash cans
until it is made into pottery.
When they are ready to make
pottery they beat and kneed the clay to remove air bubbles and
to mix the white and red clays together in a secret way to make
the marbleized pottery.
The Making of the Pots
The pots are usually started
in the bottoms of open bowls and coiled up from there one coil
at a time. The coils are put together by sliding and pinching
the coils to the ones below and thinning them by pinching them
between her fingers and scraping with gourd scrapers. Usually
4-7 pots at a time are worked on so that a coil or two can be
added at a time and allowed to firm up while she is working on
other pots. This drying between coils prevents the pots from
collapsing when being worked on. Lucy is known for her unusually
large size pots of many unique, and varied shapes, and for making
handles and overlay on pots.
Smoothing, Slipping, Polishing,
and Painting of the Pots
When the pots are dried they
are sanded with a series of sandpapers until they are finally
sanded to a 320 grit. Next they are evened out so the top and
bottom will be almost perfectly even. The pot is then measured
out and the basic background is drawn on with a pencil. The background
is slipped with water and stone polished and then the various
other clay slips are applied three times and stone polished one
color at a time. Finally the black paint is made by grinding
the hematite paint mixed with the juice of bee plant on a sandstone
pallet. This grinding takes about one and a half hours of hard
work to grind a days worth of paint. Then the black paint is
then painted on the pot.
Firing the Pots
The pots are fired outside
in a fire of Sheep manure and cedar wood. They are protected
from the fire by pot shards and burned off tin. Firing temperatures
reach between 1800-1900 degrees F. Most of her pottery has a
few firing blushes where the fire got extra hot. Pots fired outside
usually have better and varied coloring and are shinier. However,
firing in this manner is sometimes disheartening as the pots
can break when a sudden gust of wind or rain comes up or if the
fire heats unevenly. Also the pottery can under-fire if the manure
is damp or has too much sand in it.
Final Statement
As you can see the making
of their pots is a very long process. Lucy is basically self
taught but received a little help from Hopi-Tewa friends. It
has taken her 30 years to learn to make her beautiful pottery
and is glad that all of her daughters are fine potters in their
own right and that one of them is taking it up as a career even
though she has a college degree. She has been trying to make
Navajo pottery evolve up into a fine art going up and above tradition
while still using native techniques and home refined materials
that are all natural. Most of the designs are adapted from Navajo
sand painting designs, rug and basket designs, and the ancient
pottery designs from the ancient ruins that are so numerous in
the area the she grew up in.
More About the Artist:
Education: -Brigham Young
University Provo, Utah
B.S. In Elementary Education and Indian Studies
Tribe: Navajo with some Hopi-Tewa
ancestry
Clan: Tlashchi’i (Red
Bottom) born for Todichi’ni (Bitter Water)
Work Experience: - 9 years
teaching on the Navajo Reservation at various places, kindergarten,
grades 2nd, 3rd, and junior high school art.
-Various artists in residence
at elementary schools in the Four Corners area
-19 years as a professional
full time potter
Shows & Exhibitions and
Collections:
Santa Fe Indian Market (29
years)
Heard Museum
Eight Northern Pueblos
Gallup Ceremonial
Denver Museum of Natural History Collection
Dallas Indian Festival of Arts
Totah Festival
Eitljorg Museum Show
San Diego Museum of Man Collection
Southwest Museum, Los Angeles
Red Earth Festival, Oklahoma City
Indian Artists of America, Scottsdale
Pueblo Grande Show, Phoenix
Raymond James Financial Institution
Smithsonian Collection
Heard Museum Collection
Albuquerque LDS Temple
Lane Allen Collection Smithsonian Collection
Featured Publications: Pueblo
and Navajo Contemporary Pottery by Guy Berger & Nancy Schiffer
2000,2004
Treasures of the Navajo by
Theda Bassman 1997
Native Peoples 1992 (cover
and article)
Enduring Traditions
by Jerry &Lois Jacka 1994
“Indian Trader”
Oct. 1992
“Gallup Independent”
Sept. 13, 1992
“Arizona Highways”
Nov. 1988
Indian Market supplement to
the Albuquerque Journal. August, 2002
Beyond Tradition by
Jerry & Lois Jacka 1988
Navajo Pottery by Russell
Hartman & Jan Mesial 1987
Honors, Awards, & Accomplishments:
- 35 years making pottery,
19 years full time.
- Numerous awards at Santa
Fe Indian Market, Gallup Ceremonial, Heard Museum (Maria Martinez
Memorial Award), Totah Festival, Dallas Indian Market, Southwest
Museum in Los Angeles, Navajo Tribal Fair, New Mexico State Fair,
Best of Show Totah Festival, Farmington, NM
Influences: The ceremonies
and traditional teachings of my grandfather and of my great-grandmother
who partially raised me. Also the pottery from the ancient ruins
near my home and my many Pueblo friends who inspired me, and
quite possibly some of my Hopi-Tewa ancestry.
Artist Statement: I am mostly
a self-taught potter who has spent 35 years refining the art
of Navajo pottery up and beyond tradition but still using traditional
materials and methods.
