ACOMA, LAGUNA AND ZUNI

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      Debbie is a very talented artist from a well established family of potters. Her family is recognized for their geometric/Mimbres polychrome pottery that is highly polished and thin walled. When Debbie was twelve, she was inspired to make pottery by her mother Sarah Garcia, and her late grandmother Jesse Garcia. Debbie has now mastered the techniques of making traditional Acoma pottery and makes figurines, bowls, plates, wedding vases, canteens, and seed pots. The high quality pottery that she makes are painted with designs that are shaped in her mind, and often depict contemporary and geometric designs that have been handed down within her family. Her aunt is well known potter Stella Shutiva.
      A common theme in Acoma pottery is the parrot jar. Debbie has taken several classic Acoma elements and designed this Acoma olla. The parrot design originated from the Mimbres culture. She has added the yucca flower and the rainbow to complete her design work.

#AJLZ91213- 12” high by 13” wide
Price: $1600

      Paula is just getting better and better. Her painting is so precise and dazzling. Paula Estevan was born in 1967 and has been making pottery since 1986. Paula has over 20 years experience and her work exhibits a very high degree of accomplishment. She is the daughter of Patsy Mike and the sister of Marcia Estevan. She is a self-taught potter. Paula’s work is included in “Southern Pueblo Pottery: 2000 Artist Biographies” by Gregory Schaaf and “Pueblo and Navajo Contemporary Pottery” by Berger & Schiffer.
     These black and white dazzlers are so boldly painted. These kinds of patterns exhibit such a high degree of skill. Thin walled and hand coiled, they are terrific examples of Acoma pottery made in the traditional methods.

#AJLZ31218-
A) Diamond pattern (4 ½” high by 5” wide)
Price: $400 SOLD
B) Oval black/white rows (4 ½” high by 5” wide)
Price: $400

      We continue to be excited by Paula’s new patterns and shapes. This bottle shape has a wonderful black and white narrow neck with a tight design,

#AJLZ2138- 4 ¾” high by 4 ¼” wide
Price: $400

      These new bowls are remarkably well designed. Both considered eye dazzlers, one is all black and white and one has the red slips mixed into the design work. Paula’s painting continues to impress us!! It just gets better and better.

#AJLZ2139-
A) Black and white diamond shape pattern
4 ½” high by 5 ½” wide
$450
B) Black, white and red painted vertical rows
4 ¼” high by 5 ½” wide
$450 SOLD

      "Acoma potter Adrianne Keene's work challenges the boundaries between traditional and contemporary in the world of art. As a full time teacher with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Tuba City, Arizona, she also uses her work to bridge boundaries between peoples, teaching children the importance of being the best a person can be through art." This is what was just written about Adrianne in a lead article in the Indian Market Albuquerque Journal , August 19, 1999. She states in that article, " The pots are alive once I produce them." She grew up watching her mother make pots, but never made one herself until after her firstborn son had passed away. He passed away on Mother's Day, in 1976 - and when she "came out of her depression" - she found herself making pots. Her mother, Juanita Keene, helped her through that time, and encouraged her pottery making. Adrianne shows an incredible talent - she is one of the best miniaturists working today, She uses the traditional colors of black, white and red - and paints with painstaking detail. She has developed a style that is unique among Acoma potters- her seed jars feature a corrugated blossom around the top - made with a triangular shaped stick - pressed from the inside to the out. This corrugation must be completed in a single day to pevent cracking. We hope you enjoy her unique work.
     This seed bowl is a striking beauty! The red corrugated and carved top (created with the back of a pencil when the clay is wet) is such a great contrast to the traditional black and white painted bottom that shows Acoma traditional symbols; the Tularosa swirl and the stair steps.

#AJLZ5127 - 2” high by 3 ¼” wide
Price: $600 SOLD

     Carmel Lewis Haskaya was born in 1947. She is one other pottery producing daughters of the famous Lucy Lewis. Carmel has always been inspired by the ancient people, the Anasazi. She and her sisters Dolores and Emma try to keep the traditions of their people live though their pottery. They still dig their clay in a secret place somewhere in Acoma, just like their ancestors before them. Carmel has been an active potter since 1952 working in Anasazi, Mimbres and Tularosa Revival polychromes, black-on-white, and black-on-orange jars, bowls, seed pots and canteens. The Lewis sisters are featured in the book, Pottery by American Indian Women, by Susan Peterson.
      This cylinder shape is derived from pre-historic forms, many of which have been found at Chaco Canyon. The designs are classic Acoma birds, parrots, plant and various checkerboards representing rain. The design of the jar shows one panel on top and a complementary panel on the bottom. The colors are so soft and so classic. These orange, black and slipped cream colors are really wonderful.

#AJLZ51310 -
7” high by 4” wide
Price: $400 SOLD

     I am so pleased to introduce a new young potter to our gallery. I just met Sharon’s son, Eric and was quite taken with his work .Sharon has been encouraging him to continue to work in the traditional Acoma style of pottery making. His shapes are very nice, but it is the boldness of his painted designs that caught my eye. He paints his hand made pieces in tribal tattoo designs that he used to draw on paper. The curves, swirls, and triangular patterns are very pleasing. He signs Eric Lewis, Acoma.

#AJLZ31321 -
4 ¾” high by 6 ½” wide
Price: $350 SOLD

     This is an extremely detailed and bold designed cylindrical vase by Sharon Lewis. We very much like the diagonal white on black lightening drawings set against the panels of fine line work. It is beautifully coiled, and expertly painted.

#AJLZ91226 - 7" high by 5 1/2" wide
Price: $1400

     Sharon does such a wonderful job on her miniature seed bowls. Well coiled, and remarkably well painted and slipped, Sharon excels on painted execution of intricate details.

#AJLZ31320 -
A) Black and white seed bowl with multi slipped center spirals
1 ½” high by 2 1/8” wide
Price: $90
B) Black and white with fine line off center medallion
½” high by 2 ¼” wide
Price: $90

     Rebecca Lucario was born in 1951 into the Yellow Corn Clan in Acoma, and has been actively making pottery since 1965. Her teacher was her grandmother Dolores S. Sanchez. Rebecca has been winning awards at Indian Markets since 1983 and is considered one of the top pueblo potters. She is best known for two styles, Mimbres Revival style pottery with animal designs and her optical eye-dazzler pots or plates. She explains, "The secret to making plates is to not make them too thin or too thick. You also have to knead the clay well to get out all the air bubbles." Rebecca is known for her fine symmetry and detailed yucca brush painting on plates and bowls of all sizes. Her work is so thin walled, such a great palate for her intricate design work.
      Rebecca signs her creations with R. Lucario. Her sisters, Diane and Judy Lewis and Carolyn Concho are well known potters, as well.
      This new plate is so visually appealing. The subject is turtles, each of the round medallions featuring a different turtle, painted with classic Acoma designs. These circles are beautifully set into the background of her classic black and white fine line work. It is a stunning new work of art.

#AJLZ91216 - 5 ¾” wide
Price: $1150

     Charmae comes from a distinguished family of Acoma potters, and learned the art from her mother, Ethel Shields, who also makes storyteller figures. Charmae is known for her seed pots, immaculately designed in black and white, and also for her more unique formed pots that take the shape of pyramids, or boxes. Her painting is so precise, and crisp, that it sets her apart from other painters. She is married to Thomas Natseway, the award winning miniature artist.
    This is a very cool, lidded trapezoid by Charmae. This is the first fish designed piece we have had from her. It is bold and striking in its presence. This piece shows her skills in painting both polychrome combinations, as well and black and white fine line work. She boils all her colors from natural plants and vegetation and then paints her designs. Here she six fish, with the center one being the body for the black and white stopper. It is always such a pleasure seeing Charmae’s work, as the painting is so precise and clean.

#AJLZ9919 - 4” high by 4” wide
Price: $585

    This is a totally new shape from Charmae. Tall and thin, and tri sided with sharp angles, it is a stunning lidded vase blending together the contemporary shape with the traditional Mimbres designs. On each of the three sides a different Mimbres animal is beautifully painted. There are two rabbits in different positions and one deer. Above and below are the dazzling rows of black and white geometrics. A tall pointed and angled black painted stopper gives the vase extra height and elegance. This is a great creation.

#AJLZ21310 - 9” high by 2 ½” wide (per side)
Price: $625

     Calvin Analla is the brother of Yvonne Lucas, who is married to Hopi potter, Steve Lucas. He comes from the Paguate Village of the Laguna Pueblo. Like his sister and brother in law, Calvin's work is traditionally hand built with natural materials, then hand painted, and then fired outdoors in a sheep dung firing pit.
     Recently, Calvin has been experimenting with his clay bodies. He is mixing Hopi clay with his Laguna clay, and the effect is amazing. It looks marbled, and mottled – almost having a wooden effect. Calvin does a marvelous job of coiling old style, traditional forms and shapes. This beautiful plate is so lightweight- feather like. The painting is as precise as it can be, and is placed perfectly on the inside of the rim of plate. The prayer feather pattern is lovely. We are so pleased with Calvin’s new works; he is truly a magnificent painter.

#AJLZ51311 -
1 1/2" inches high and 8 1/2" inches wide
Price: $500 SOLD

     This is a lovely form; a shallow, open bowl. Calvin has expertly and precisely painted a migration pattern on the outside. That painting wraps around to the bottom of the bowl. It is a stunning piece.

#AJLZ51312 -
2” high by 8” wide
Price: $500

     Myron Sarracino (“Kaa Ooa Dinn Naa") is from the Laguna Pueblo. Myron began his pottery career at the age of 17, having been inspired by his grandparents, Thelma and Sandy Sarracino, and by his friend (and ultimately, teacher), the renowned Laguna potter Gladys Paquin. Gladys' training has allowed Myron to fully exercise his exceptional talent.
     Myron's hand coiled, very thin-walled pottery is always characterized by exceptional decoration. Many of his designs are derived from the prehistoric Tularosa and Mimbres cultures of southern New Mexico. These patterns, as well as fine line work, are his specialty. Myron uses all natural materials to create his quality pottery. He signs his work as "Myron Sarracino, Laguna Pueblo". Myron's work has been recognized by a great many awards at the Eight Northern Indian Pueblos Show, Gallup Inter-tribal Ceremonial, and New Mexico State Fair.
     This is a beautiful traditional Laguna vase. The shape is beautifully coiled. This jar has classic Tularosa swirl patterns painted with wild spinach paints around the bottom quadrant of the bowl. The various geometric shapes and patterns are pristinely painted. The jar has an extremely bold appearance. The color combination of adding a terra cotta and orange slip to compliment the black and white pattern is lovely. The triangular checkerboard at the neck is a wonderful contrast to the spirals below. Myron is becoming one of our most outstanding painters.

#AJLZ2136 - 10 ½” high by 10” wide
Price: $595

     This is a spectacular jar by Myron. The boldness of his painting is so great. The design work is outstanding. The imagery of the various geometric forms in combinations with the swirls is very compelling. The end result is really a work of beauty. Such a terrific size and shape, this would be a great affordable piece for someone who wanted to add a “larger jar” to their collection.

#AJLZ12124 - 10 ½” high by 10” wide
Price: $625