"Woodland People"
Artist: Senora Richardson Lynch (Haliwa-Saponi)
Location: Warren County
Technique: Traditional hand-coiling method
Date: 2003
Quick Facts
This pottery piece features traditional Haliwa-Saponi motifs that tell the stories of woodland life. Designs include:
- Corn—sustenance, agriculture, and medicine
- Flowering dogwood—regeneration and new life
- Turtles—a signature element of Lynch’s work, symbolizing long life and Mother Earth
- Medicinal plants—sassafras, flag root, oak, and choke cherry show the land provides people with everything they need
About the Artist
Senora Lynch began making pottery as a teenager, inspired by ancient shards and tribal elders. She refers to her work as "a living tradition," helping to revive Haliwa-Saponi pottery-making since the 1970s. Lynch’s grandmother was a healer; medicinal plants are an important part of Lynch’s art. Her work is featured in collections such as the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and the National Museum of Women in the Arts.