#5WomenArtists: Exploring the W. Dale and Jeanne C. Compton Collection

• Post Date: 3/21/2018
• Author: Amy Heggemeyer
• Reading Time: 5 minute read

• Collections tag

Can you name #5WomenArtists? Throughout Women's History Month, the National Museum of Women in the Arts challenges us to think about and learn more about women artists, particularly women artists of color, in local museums and galleries.

Spurlock Museum holds works by several women artists of the Pueblos of Arizona and New Mexico. Grandmothers, mothers, and aunts teach their granddaughters, daughters, and nieces the family methods and techniques for sourcing their materials, preparing the clay, and firing their pieces. To this foundational education, each artist adds her own unique iconography, techniques, and stylistic preferences.

Women Artists in the W. Dale and Jeanne C. Compton collection

To name just 5 of the women artists in the W. Dale and Jeanne C. Compton collection:

Joy Yellow Flower "Frogwoman" Navasie (1919-2012) Kachina Clan, Hopi/Tewa Pueblo. Known as second Frogwoman, Joy's mother Paqua Naha was first Frogwoman. She works with the white slip that her family is known for and signs her works with a Frog symbol that varies slightly from her mother's. Her daughter, Leona Navasie, is a potter whose work is also present in the Spurlock Museum. 

Lucy Martin Lewis (1900–1992), Acoma Pueblo. Lucy Lewis is the matriarch of the Lewis pottery family of Acoma Pueblo. She worked in both black on white and polychrome designs that call back to ancestral designs.

Dolores Lewis Garcia (1938/39–present), Acoma Pueblo. One of the daughters of Lucy Lewis, Dolores is known for making clay canteens and continues her mother's practice of incorporating ancestral designs into her work. The heartline deer is one example of the motifs seen on her pieces. 

Carmelita Vigil Dunlap (1925–2000), San Ildefonso Pueblo. She is the daughter of Juanita Vigil, niece of Maria Martinez, and niece of Desideria Montoya of San Ildefonso Pueblo. Carmelita continued the practice of black on black ware while also working in polychrome. The avanyu, the Pueblo water serpent deity, can be seen on her pieces. 

Mida Tafoya (1931–present), Santa Clara Pueblo. Mida Tafoya is the daughter of Christina Naranjo, granddaughter of Serafina Tafoya, and the mother of many potters. 

Look for more #5WomenArtists from museums wherever you live on social media—especially on Facebook (external link), Twitter (external link), Instagram (external link). You can find out more about the #5WomenArtists origins at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (external link).