Senora Lynch
Native American Artist
Hand Coiled Pottery, Baskets, Beadwork
Senora Lynch
123 East Haliwa Drive
Warrenton, NC27589
Home (252) 257-5771
Senora resides near her hometown ofHollister,NC with her husband and daughter.
She is a diverse artist, inpottery, basketry and beadwork. Growing up in her American Indian community has allowed her the opportunity to lean about her culture. She gives workshops in pottery, beadwork, and basketry. She is known mostly for her pottery.
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The spirit of clay has always inspired me, says Senora Lynch, an artist from the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe, who calls her pottery Living Traditions. “Working in clay takes me back to my childhood days of playing in mud, a free spirit.”
Senora Lynch became interested in making pottery at age fourteen, when she assisted her tribe’s elders with pottery class. Twenty years later, Senora met a tribal potter who agreed to teach her the craft of hand coiling, renewed her interest. She’s been a potter ever since.Senora created her own style of hand etched pottery. Her designs are original and reflect the beliefs that she grew up with, which trademarks her.
Senora creates her pottery at home using the hand- coiling method, an exacting process. First, she pounds red clay and rolls it into long ropes. Next, she coils the ropes and stacks them to form the desired vessels shape, pressing them together. She then smoothes the clay with her fingers and scrapes it with a tool to make the coils stick together. She continues to smooth and stretch the coils with her fingers, finally polishing the vessel with a rock to make it smoother and shinier. To make a design, senora places white clay on top of the red clay and etches patterns in it with a fine tool. Then the vessel goes into a kiln. This process results in exquisite pottery.Superstitions, sayings and stories from the Haliwa-Saponi inspire Senoras unique designs, as does the natural environment. She uses the dogwood flower as a sign of spring, its appearance signaling that the time to plant the corn has arrived. Tobacco, the spirit of life, and corn the staff of life are sacred plants to the Haliwa-Saponi appear in her designs.
Senoras work has exhibited at the North CarolinaMuseum of History, 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta Southern Cross Roads exhibit, NationalMuseum of the American Indian, NationalWomenMuseum of the Arts. In 2007, she was the youngest ever to receive the NC Folk Heritage Award for her work in promoting and preserving the culture of the Haliwa-Saponi people. Her strong designs have also made it on to the walkway of the UNC Chapel Hill campus at the Frank Porter Student Union. She has also been a subject of a book, The Contemporary Southeastern Pottery of Haliwa-Saponi Artist Senora Lynch, by Christopher Everette.
Her work is in the permanent collection of The Smithsonian’sNationalMuseum of the American Indian in Washington, DC. ,The NC Museum of History in Raleigh, NC., Wesleyan College Mims Gallery Rocky Mount N.C., Hanging Rock State Park Danbury, NC. And ThePiscatawayIndianMuseum in Brandywine MD. And among many private collections.
Senora is also an educator listed in the NC Artist Directory who teaches students about American Indians and works to overcome racial stereotypes. Senora uses art to teach the history and culture of her people and other North Carolina tribes. Senora urges teachers to learn more about Indian history and culture.
Senoras describes her technique of designs and carvings as self-taught, and loves what she does, each piece one of a kind and original. She is one who clearly loves and respects her heritage and its teachings, and is mindful of the shoulders on which she stands. As you watch this artist work with the clay and listen to her stories, you are taken back in time to relive the Indian culture, as she obviously does.