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The pueblo pottery of the Acoma Indians is known for its fine, thin walls and handpainted fine line, geometric and symbolic designs. Traditionally, Acoma pottery is hand formed using the coil method. It is shaped and smoothed with gourd scrapers, and smooth stones and then painted with a slip of fine clay and water. Once the vessel is dry, it is then hand painted, often still with the traditional yucca brush in native colours of black and terra cotta. The vessel is then fired in a backyard kiln primarily of dung. After so many hours of care and fine work in creating a vessel, often it is lost in the final firing process, the victim of a strong wind or a tiny bubble or impurity in the clay. Today some Acoma artists use modern kilns to finish their pottery. Other artists also will use pre-molded vessels as the palette for their beautiful hand painted designs in order to make their pieces more affordable. One of the most famous of the Acoma artists was the late Lucy Lewis who did much to promote the Pueblo pottery making art of her people.
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