Diane Lewis-Garcia (Tsi-Ku-rai-tsa, Morning Dew) was born in 1960 into the Yellow Corn Clan at Acoma Pueblo. Fortuitously, Diane was born into a family of pottery artists well known for their exquisite painters. Her mother is Katherine Lewis and her sisters are Marilyn Ray, Carolyn Lewis-Concho, Judy Lewis and Rebecca Lucario, and all are well-known traditional pueblo potters. Although the Lewis family is of no relation to the famous Acoma potter Lucy Lewis, the Lewis’s are still very well known for their fine handmade pottery, storytellers and clay sculptures. Diane has been an active potter since the mid-1980s.

Diane began experimenting with the art of working with clay at an early age. By the time she turned twenty-one years old, she had already mastered the skills of hand-coiling clay to form her pottery and painting with naturally derived pigments. During her familiarization with Acoma’s pottery traditions, Diane focused more on the rules of the ancient traditional methods of firing outdoors. Additionally, she learned how to gather her natural pigments from within Acoma Pueblo, turning them into the soft but crisp paints she then applies with a brush fashioned from the stems of a yucca plant to her various pottery forms.

Diane has a reputation for carefully crafted Mimbres Revival and traditional polychrome bowls, jars, pitchers, miniatures and most especially seed pots made in the Acoma Pueblo convention.  Her attention to detail and stunning organically made colors truly set Diane’s work apart from that of her contemporaries. Furthermore, her painted designs are never fully repeated. Diane enjoys sharing her favorite subjects which are Mimbres animals, lizards, bugs, fish, Kokopelli, rain, lightening and clouds through her painted design motifs.

Diane has had the opportunity to receive recognition for her work with over thirteen awards at the Santa Fe Indian Market in addition to others at the Inter-tribal Indian Ceremonial in Gallup; the Heard Museum Show in Phoenix; and the Eight Northern Pueblos Arts & Crafts Show.

Collectors and researchers alike can find Diane's work included in several major publications including "Pueblo & Navajo Contemporary Pottery" by Berger and Schiffer; "Pueblo Pottery: 2000 Artist Biographies" by Gregory Schaaf; "Fourteen Families in Pueblo Pottery" by Rick Dillingham; and "Southwest Pottery: Anasazi to Zuni" by Hayes & Blom.

Diane signs her pottery as: Diane Lewis, Acoma, NM.

SOURCES CITED:

Ancient Nations | Indigenous Arts of the American Westhttp://www.ancientnations.com/Gallery%20HTML/2011/diane_lewis_garcia_acoma_rainbow.html

In the Eyes of the Pot | A Journey into the World of Native American Potteryhttps://www.eyesofthepot.com/acoma/diane_lewis

Pueblo Directhttps://www.pueblodirect.com/pages/diane-lewis