Lewis, Rita

Rita Banada was born into Cochiti Pueblo in January 1920. She grew up learning how to make pottery from her mother, Ascencion Banada. Then she married Ivan Lewis, the son of Acoma Pueblo pottery matriarch Lucy M. Lewis. Ivan had grown up surrounded by people making pottery but he wasn’t particularly interested himself until after he married Rita. Rita taught him the Cochiti way and they collaborated on a few pieces, but mostly each made their own pottery.

Rita became active in the marketplace in the early 1940s, making traditional Cochiti jars, bowls and figures. In the early 1970s she started making storytellers and nativities. She also made Singing Angels and figures of drummers, mermaids, deer, sheep and other animals.

Rita was a participant in the Santa Fe Indian Market from the late 1970s until she passed on in 1991. She earned many awards in those years, including the John R. Bott Award for Best Cochiti Storyteller in 1988.