Garcia, Sarah

Born in December 1928, Sarah Garcia grew up at Laguna Pueblo and learned to make pottery from her grandmother. Then she married Chester Garcia, Jessie Garcia’s son, and moved to his home at Acoma Pueblo. At Acoma she became one of the Four Matriarchs of the Mimbres– and Anasazi-Revival movements, along with Marie Z. Chino, Lucy Lewis and her mother-in-law, Jessie Garcia.

Sarah was one of the most prolific potters in the history of Acoma. She made traditional polychrome and black-on-white jars, bowls, owls, mugs with human faces and other figures. She taught her daughters, Debbie Brown and Goldie Hayah, how to make traditional pottery, too. After making pottery since she was barely a teenager, Sarah passed on in 2015.