Acoma Pottery | Acoma, New Mexico, USA
We collected our first piece of Acoma Pueblo Potttery in 1972 when we first moved to New Mexico. For a while in the 1970's we were frequent buyers of Acoma pottery as well as pottery from the eight northern pueblos. Then the kids arrived, money got tighter and life moved on. We sometimes joke that a particular pot was purchased "BE" as in "Before Erik".
We are now beginning to travel again and find that a lot has changed. For one thing, in 1972 the web hadn't been invented yet and no one had any idea sharing information like this would be possible.
We started or re-exploration of Acoma Pottery with a visit to the pueblo. We took lots of pictures which will be in an online album as soon as we can get them posted.
We have an extensive collection of pueblo indian pottery that will will photograph and publish as time permits.
Acoma, New Mexico claims to be the oldest continously settled community in the US. I think Old Orabi, in Arizona makes the same claim. Certainly this community was active in the 1600's and people from here were involved in the pueblo revolt.
The revival of the pottery was started by Lucy Lewis who has been dead for many years now. Acoma pottery is characterized by very thin walls and usually has a white slip over much of the surface with blank and beige areas. It may also be incised with triangular marks.
For a while Acoma had some problems with their clay. It had to much calcium carbonate. The effect was that chips of the surface would pop off and reduce the value of the pot. The suggested cure was to soak the pot in white vinegar although I never had the nerve to try that myself.
If you are interested in other American Indian arts and crafts you can check out Hopi Kachinas, and silvery overlay jewelry at our Hopi Arts website.