Rachel Aragon

Acoma Pueblo

Rachel Aragon was born into the Eagle Clan of Acoma Pueblo in 1938. Her mother, Lupe Aragon, encouraged and inspired Rachel to learn the traditional art of working with clay at the age of 10. Rachel graduated from High School in 1958 and moved on to pursue a career in working with clay on a more professional level.

Rachel specializes in traditional hand coiled fertility pottery. She gathers her clay from sacred grounds within Acoma Pueblo. Then she soaks the clay, grinds it, cleans it, hand mixes it, hand coils the shapes, sands the forms and hand paints the designs using natural pigments to produce the natural earth tones she paints with. Then she fires her pottery the traditional way: outdoors with wood chips.

Over the years Rachel has earned First and Second Place ribbons at the New Mexico State Fair and at least one Second Place ribbon at the Santa Fe Indian Market.

Rachel is well known for her lightweight pottery and her beautiful hand painted designs: she especially likes to use flowers, parrots, Tularosa-Revival spirals and deer-with-heart-lines. She signs her pottery: Rachel Aragon, Acoma, N.M.