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Pueblo pottery exhibitions are not uncommon in New Mexico, but 鈥淚 Am Clay: Acoma Life in Figures鈥� is the first multigenerational exhibition of Acoma Pueblo pottery to be community-curated, giving an insider鈥檚 view of the tradition. It opens at the Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA) in Santa Fe on Sunday, June 7, and runs through Nov. 30.

鈥淚 Am Clay鈥� includes approximately 120 figurative clay pieces from the late-19th century to the present day, showing how motifs and styles evolved within different family lineages. Some depict animals, while others depict women storytellers surrounded by children. Many have a whimsical quality. But all of them are rooted in ancient traditions.

The exhibition was conceived by Brian Vallo, who served as an Acoma tribal official in the early 1990s and as governor of Acoma from 2019 through 2021. Vallo also brings a wealth of experience from the field of cultural heritage preservation, having worked as an independent consultant to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among others.

鈥淚鈥檝e had my hand in a few museum exhibitions (as a curator), but I also do a lot of work around repatriation of ancestors and their belongings, and objects of cultural patrimony,鈥� Vallo said. 鈥溾�� I help museums assess their collections and help them prepare for consultations with the tribes who are represented in their collections.鈥�

For 鈥淚 Am Clay,鈥� Vallo brought four Acoma Pueblo potters onboard as exhibition advisors: Prudy Correa, Claudia Mitchell, Marilyn Ray and Maria 鈥淟ily鈥� Salvador. MOIFA commissioned each of them to make new works for the show, which will subsequently be inducted into the museum鈥檚 permanent collection.

鈥淏y giving ownership and authority to 鈥� the Pueblo artists themselves to collaboratively curate the exhibition, it gives agency to our own Pueblo people,鈥� Vallo said. 鈥溾�� We wanted to have full ownership over the ways in which these objects would be presented 鈥� and really bring the voices of the potters, past and present, to this exhibition.鈥�

Mitchell considers herself largely self-taught, although as a child she used to watch her grandmother 鈥� the renowned Acoma potter Lucy Lewis 鈥� sculpt in clay. Mitchell鈥檚 mother, Emma Lewis, was also a well-known potter, as were two of her aunts. For this exhibition, Mitchell will present her own work alongside her grandmother鈥檚.

鈥淎 lot of the animal figures from my grandmother, Lucy 鈥� have personalities. 鈥� Her bird baskets 鈥� these are small pottery bowls that have handles and little bird heads on them 鈥� are pretty whimsical. And they were (often) given as gifts, like during Easter, or during one of our ceremonies,鈥� Mitchell said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 fun to get something like that during ceremony. They鈥檙e given with your heart and with prayers for good things to come to the person who鈥檚 receiving it.鈥�

Some of Lewis鈥� animal-motif pottery from the 1920s and 鈥�30s that are included in the show were originally sold to tourists. But Mitchell said that does not diminish their artistic or cultural significance.

鈥淭he artists put part of themselves into each piece, so these may have been called 鈥榯ourist items,鈥� but they鈥檙e still authentic,鈥� Mitchell said. 鈥淭hey were still made from the same materials our ancestors used hundreds of years ago. They were still using the same clay deposits, the same mineral paints and many of the same techniques to make all of these items.鈥�

Acoma Pueblo potters often grind old pottery into their freshly harvested clay when making a new piece. They do this in part to give the clay more structural integrity, but it is also a way of carrying their ancestors into the new work.

鈥�(People can feel a) connection, not only to the pottery but to the spirit that was put into it,鈥� Mitchell said. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 not only mine that鈥檚 being put in; it鈥檚 everybody else before me, from those pot shards that are being carried through 鈥� and that鈥檚 one way to not only honor (those ancestors) but to keep them alive.鈥�

One of the other artist-advisors in the exhibition, Ray, also comes from a prominent lineage of Acoma potters.

鈥淚 grew up with my grandparents here (in Acoma Pueblo) for three summers at age 9, 10 and 11, and that鈥檚 where I learned the art,鈥� Ray said. 鈥淢y grandmother was a potter, and we owned cattle, so the dung left by the cows was used as fuel for firing the pottery. 鈥� My grandmother learned from her mother and her grandmother.鈥�

Ray鈥檚 grandfather used to take her on horseback to collect natural clay, which they would then refine by drying, grinding, soaking and sifting it multiple times. Ray鈥檚 family, like Mitchell鈥檚, also incorporated old pottery into the new mixtures.

鈥淚 remind people that every piece of pottery that is new has a 1,000-year-old piece embedded into the clay,鈥� Ray said. 鈥淚 call them 鈥榢eepers of ancient secrets.鈥� That鈥檚 how I look at the pot shards.鈥�

Ray continues to work in the traditional manner, with her brother and nephews now helping to harvest the clay. Because she uses only natural mineral clays from Acoma lands, finding different colors has required a mix of ancestral knowledge and a willingness to explore on her own.

鈥淭here鈥檚 so many colors around here. You just have to look and experiment,鈥� Ray said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing how our ancestors came up with all that. I mean, they were chemists, too, because they put certain colors together.鈥�

Acoma pottery, Ray said, is mainly known for three colors 鈥� white, black and orange 鈥� but she has discovered nine.

鈥淭he only color that鈥檚 been very difficult to find out where it came from, is the green that our family uses,鈥� Ray said. 鈥淚t was found in my grandfather鈥檚 tack shed after he passed on 鈥� and to this day, I have not found any natural earth in that color. 鈥� So, we use it very sparingly.鈥�

Members of Acoma Pueblo are invited to preview the exhibition on Saturday, June 6, the day before the public opening. After its run at MOIFA, the exhibition will then travel to Acoma Pueblo so that more community members can see it.

鈥淚 hope that when the exhibition comes to Acoma, that it鈥檒l inspire the younger generation to keep connected to the tradition and the culture,鈥� Ray said. 鈥溾�� I hope the storytellers have an impact on the younger geneartion to keep their history alive.鈥�

Vallo is optimistic that community-focused exhibitions of Indigenous art such as this will become more commonplace in the future.

鈥淚t鈥檚 taken a while for us to get to this point,鈥� Vallo said. 鈥淏ut as we have an increase in the number of Native American museum professionals and leaders 鈥� that is helping to shift those colonial constructs, and it鈥檚 providing the opportunities that we鈥檝e been waiting for as Native people, for quite some time, to engage with our museums.鈥�

Logan Royce Beitmen is an arts writer for the sa国际传媒官网网页入口. He covers visual art, music, fashion, theater and more. Reach him at lbeitmen@abqjournal.com or on Instagram at .