RELEASE: �I Am Clay: Acoma Life in Figures� opens at MOIFA, highlighting the figurative pottery tradition of Acoma Pueblo
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
View this email in your browser
Hi Everyone,
Santa Fe, NM — The Museum of International Folk Art presents I Am Clay: Acoma Life in Figures , a community-curated exhibition that explores the rich tradition of figurative pottery from Acoma Pueblo. Opening June 7, 2026, the exhibition highlights the creativity, resilience, and artistic innovation of Acoma potters through more than 120 works from the museum’s collection alongside significant loans from regional institutions and private collections.
I Am Clay is the first exhibition devoted exclusively to the figurative pottery of Acoma Pueblo, one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the United States. While Acoma pottery is widely celebrated for its thin-walled traditional forms with fine-line painting and geometric designs, this exhibition expands the narrative to foreground human and animal figures as well as scenes of everyday life. These works reveal the ways artists have responded to family traditions, economic realities, the influence of tourism, and ongoing artistic innovation.
Community-curated by Acoma Pueblo potters Prudy Correa, Claudia Mitchell, Marilyn Ray, and Maria “Lilly” Salvador, alongside cultural consultant and guest curator Brian Vallo, the exhibition centers Indigenous knowledge, lived experience, and artistic voice. Through artist-written texts, filmed interviews, a gallery guide, and newly commissioned works, I Am Clay emphasizes self-representation and storytelling from within the Acoma community.
“This exhibit honors traditional pottery-making and celebrates the creative spirit of Acoma potters who for generations, have been guided by the clay mother, molding and shaping her into the form that she chooses to become,” said Guest Curator, Brian Vallo.
Installed in the museum’s Mark Naylor and Dale Gunn Gallery of Conscience, the exhibition is the Museum of International Folk Art’s contribution to Handwork 2026, a nationwide initiative organized by Craft in America to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. The initiative seeks to highlight often overlooked stories of American craft, including Indigenous art, and encourages a broader and more inclusive understanding of handmade traditions in the United States.
“ I Am Clay recognizes the depth and innovation within Acoma figurative pottery, a genre that has often been overlooked in broader conversations about Pueblo ceramics,” said Laura Addison, Curator of N. American & European Collections at Museum of International Folk Art. “These works carry stories of family, community, adaptation, and creativity, reflecting how Acoma artists have continually shaped tradition while responding to changing worlds.”
Following its presentation in Santa Fe , I Am Clay: Acoma Life in Figures will travel to Haak’u Museum at Acoma Pueblo, where it will open in…