Moments of Enchantment; 91; Lucy Martin Lewis

Moments of Enchantment brought to you by the New Mexico Office of Cultural Affairs and 770 K-O-B Radio. Akama Pueblo, where today's sports car signaled the traffic speeding by on State Road 23. Pueblo children many years ago, weighted by the side of a gravel road to sell their crafts to motorists and model teas. Among the children then was a girl whose hands would reshape the art of pottery, Lucy Martin Lewis, more in a moment. September the 2nd is the day of St. Stephen's Feast every year. At Akama Pueblo, pottery has traditionally been presented as gifts to the Cachina Spirits whose goodwill is corded through dances and chanting. Lucy Martin Lewis began throwing pots when she was 7 years old, offering them to the spirits by ritual. Later she was inspired to study her ancestors pottery on display at the Laboratory of Anthropology in Santa Fe.

Returning home, she experimented with her pottery. For years to come, the slapping and coiling of clay was to be heard around Lucy's Pueblo home as often as the voices of her 9 boys and girls. A master of shaping and working clay, Lucy resurrected the geometrical designs of her forebears while adapting them to modern potting techniques. In this way, she brought the pest into the present with her pottery. And by teaching her 5 daughters the secrets of her skill, Lucy is ensured the future of the art of Akama pottery. Lucy Martin Lewis received New Mexico's highest artistic honor. The Governor's Award for Excellence and Achievement in the Arts. Moments of Enchantment. Brought to you by the New Mexico Office of Cultural Affairs. For Moments of Enchantment, I am David Griffith.