GaleriaDeOllas.com
Title
Mata Ortiz Pottery- Galeria de Ollas - Puerto Vallarta
Description
Mata Ortiz is a small rural village, about 100 miles south of the New Mexico, U.S.A. border in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. There, about 300 of the villagers are creating the most beautiful individually designed and hand crafted works of pottery being produced anywhere today. The potters make each piece the way the inhabitants of ancient city of Paquime did over 600 years ago. However, the modern potters are innovative in their designs and have developed their own distinctive styles.
When Juan Quezada was a 12-year old boy in the poor village of Mata Ortiz, he left school to help his family by gathering wood and other forest products in the nearby mountains. As he wandered across the plains, he found shards of ancient pottery.Three years latter he began his quest to make pottery the way it had been done by the ancient peoples of Paquime. Fifteen years later, after experimentation, trial and error, Juan succeeded. He had recreated the whole pottery making process from mining, treating and forming the clay to decorating and firing the pots. Soon Juan taught what he had learned to his brothers and sisters. In time, other family members and friends learned how to produce the pottery and made their own artistic contributions.
DISCOVERY In 1976, Spencer MacCallum, a social anthropologist found three intriguing, unsigned pots in Bob's Swap Shop in Deming, New Mexico. He searched for and found their maker, Juan Quezada. Spencer sponsored Juan and promoted his work and that of his family members. THE MIRACLE CONTINUES... The village of Mata Ortiz has a population of about 2,000, yet there are over 300 poters. This community may be the greatest modern concentration of artistic creativity on the face of the earth. These highly skilled artists are not bound by the traditional designs from the ancient civilization that gave bith to their art form. Instead they have shared, innovated, experimented, and developed their own artistic styles, but continued to maintain the high quality workmanship for which Juan Quezada set the standard. Mata Ortiz pottery is increasingly being displayed in galleries, and museums throughout the United States, although still quite affordable. Demand for many of the artists' pieces and the prices are increasing rapidly.
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