Lucy Leuppe McKelvey

Lucy Leuppe McKelvey

Navajo Potter

 

Childhood:

                 She spent her early childhood, until eighth grade, living mostly in Sheepsprings, New Mexico with her great-grandmother and other

                 older relatives in a very traditional setting.  There she spent her summers herding sheep and farming with them in the Chuska                                  Mountains and living on the desert in the winter.  In eighth grade she moved with her mother to Gallup, New Mexico to attend school.

 

 

Education: 

                  Attended Cathedral Elementry School, Toadlena BIA School, Newcomb Public School, and Gallup High School.

               

                  Graduated from Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah with a degree in Elementary Education and Indian Studies.

 

 

Work Experience:

                   She has taught for many years at various locations on the Navajo Reservation,in kindergarten, second and third grades

                   and in junior high art.

        

                    She has done various artists in residences at elementary schools and museum organizations

                    in the Four Corners area.

 

                    She has worked as a full time career artist for the last twenty-sixyears.

                   

 

Shows and Exhibitions:

                     As of the last few years she has cut the number of shows she does down mainly to the Santa Fe Indian Market

                     (over 30 years) and the Heard Museum Show and the Totah Festival.

    

                     But in the past she has shown at the Eight Northern Pueblos, Gallup Ceremonial, Totah Festival, Eitlejorg Museum, Southwest                                  Museum, Red Earth Festival, Pueblo Grande Show, Dallas Indian Festival of Arts and more  

           

    

Collections:

                      Raymond James Financial Institution Collection

                      Albuquerque LDS Temple

                      Navajo Tribal Museum

                      Lane Allen Collection

                      Smithsonian Collection

                      Denver Museum of Natural History Collection

                      Heard Museum Collection

                      San Diego Museum of Man Collection and more. 

                      Navajo Code Talker Museum, Kayenta, Arizona

                      Eitlejorg Museum Awards:  

                      Numerous awards at the Santa Fe Indian Market over the yeas including Best of Division and many first place ribbons, Gallup                                   Ceremonial many first place ribbons and special awards, Navajo Tribal Fair, Heard Museum, New Mexico State Fair, Best of Show at                       the Totah Festival and many more.

 

 

Galleries: 

                      Lucy is unusual in that she ususally tries to make and sell her own work without going through too many galleries. But she has been                         in many galleries throughout the years like the Heard Museum, Durango Trading Post, Fifth Generation, Lema Trading, Ancient                               Nations, and particularly Notah-Dineh in Cortez, Colorado and many more.

 

 

Publications:

                     Navajo Folk Art, 2008, by Chuck and Jan Rosenak

                     Pueblo and Navajo Contemporary Pottery, 2000 and 2004, by Guy Berger and Nancy Schiffer.

                     Treasures of the Navajo, 1997, by Theda Bassman 

                     Native Peoples Magazine, Aug 1992, cover and article

                     Enduring Traditions, 1994, by Jerry and Lois Jacka

                     “Indian Trader” Oct 1992

                     “Gallup Independent” September 13, 1992

                     Arizona Highways Magazine, November, 1988

                     Indian Market Supplement to the Albuquerque Journal, August, 2002, cover and article.

                

 

Influences: 

                     The Navajo ceremonials and traditional teachings of all the old people that I was raised with, especially from my

                     great-grandmother and grandparents.  Also I have been greatly influenced by the pottery from the ruins that surrounded my                                      childhood home and by Navajo and Pueblo potter friends that have helped, encouraged and inspired me. And last of all I might

                     even be influenced by some of my Hopi-Tewa ansestory. 

 

 

Artist Statement: 

                     I am mostly a self taught potter who has spent the last 44years trying to make the art of Navajo pottery evolve up into a fine art

                     form that goes beyond tradition but still uses traditional native materials and methods. I am known for making very large, polychrome                        pots in a great variety of shapes that are painted with almost outrageous detail.  Most of my work tells a story and contains design                            elements from the ancients, cermonial sandpaintings, baskets, and rugs that have been stylized by my own imagination and 

                     inspiration.