02.25.22 Acoma Pottery

Acoma Pottery
And The Four Matriachs

By Rebekah Powers | February 2022

Acoma Pueblo, also called “Sky City” comprises a quarter of a million acres of beautiful mesas, deep valleys and rolling hills, homeland to deer, elk, antelope, bears, mountain lions, coyotes, rabbits, prairie dogs and hundreds of species birds.

Originally, Acoma pottery was used in daily life as seed collectors, water jugs, cooking vessels and dough bowls. The art form was on the brink of being lost to the societal changes of modern times when Marie Zieu Chino (1907-1982) and friends Lucy M. Lewis, Jessie Garcia and Juana Leno known as “The Four Matriarchs” revived the ancient style.

The revival included designs and styles of the the Mimbres, Tularosa and others in the Anasazi region. Acoma pottery is characterized by fluted rims, thin elegant walls, and “optical“ fine line designs made with Yucca quills that dazzle the eye and boggle the mind with their mathematical precision and meticulous execution. Like Maria Martinez, Sarafina Tafoya and leaders in other pueblos, these four creative and innovative women established the Acoma Pueblo as an enduring art Mecca and continued the line of ancestral knowledge.

Marie Chino taught her daughters and granddaughters how to dig clay from the “family clay beds” passed down for generations where they would pray and sing to the Earth Mother as they gathered, cleaned and prepared the clay. She also shared the secrets of hand building with the coil and scrape method, and finally, she inspired them with her incredibly precise geometric and fine line designs, which they carry on to this day.

Traditional Acoma pottery is made from natural materials, minerals and plants found within their homeland. Known for their black and white and polychrome earthenware, they make their white slip from Kaolin, a white chalky material formed millions of years ago by the sediment of microscopic organisms that once lived in an ancient sea covering the Great Southwest. Their black paint is often a mixture of an iron oxide mineral called Hematite combined with a vegetal paint brewed from wild spinach, Rocky Mountain bee weed, yucca fruit, and other plants. Red, orange and yellow come mostly from natural clay fields, a lovely palette of contiguous warm hues.

The prevalent designs and symbols used by Acoma artists include the Acoma Parrot, clouds, rosettes and fine line hatching designs that represent rain.

One piece can take 60 to 80 hours to create before firing, elevating what was once a utilitarian part of Native American life to a rarefied art form found in museums, galleries and collections worldwide.

Chimayo Trading Del Norte is currently showing Acoma pottery of the highest quality, with exquisite works from the matriarch potters of all the pueblos and many of their living family members still creating work today.

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