Salvador, Lilly M

Lilly Maria Salvador was born into Acoma Pueblo in 1944. Her mother was Frances Torivio, her sisters Wanda Aragon and Ruth Paisano. Lilly grew up learning to weave, make silver jewelry, embroider and paint, but it is her pottery that she is most known for.

Lilly learned how to make pottery by watching and working with her mother as she was growing up. Later in life, her mother praised her daughter for having surpassed her mother’s abilities, saying, “I just love her pottery… [they] are much thinner than mine.”

Lilly made nativities, figures and polychrome and Anasazi black-on-white jars and bowls. She was a participant in the Santa Fe Indian Market for more than 20 years, earning many ribbons. She was also a participant in the Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts Fair & Market, the Pasadena Craftsmen Show, the Colorado Indian Market, the Eight Northern Pueblos Arts & Crafts Show and the Scottsdale National Indian Arts Exhibition.

Lilly was one of the artists participating in the 1979 One Space: Three Visions exhibit at the Albuquerque Museum. Some of her work is in the collections of the Albuquerque Museum, the Heard Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA.