D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
July 2005
D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
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A Pottery Fiesta
For those who'd like to learn more about Mata Ortiz pottery first-hand, there will be a two-day adult pottery workshop at the Pinos Altos Opera House. The workshop will cost $150, which includes all materials, demonstrations and instruction by potters. Workshop hours will be Saturday, registration at 9 a.m., workshop 10 a.m.-3 p.m., and Sunday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. MacCallum, an anthropologist, discovered Quezada's work in 1976 in the humble setting of Bob's Swap Shop in Deming. The shop had three pots for sale at $5 apiece. MacCallum recognized the artistry in the pots, which even though new gave every sign of being prehistoric pots. Today, those three pots he chanced upon are in the collection of the Museum of Man in San Diego, and pots by Quezada fetch as much as $20,000. MacCallum's accidental discovery launched him on a three-year detour in northern Mexico, looking for the artist who'd made the pots. Finally, he came upon Mata Ortiz, a village of some 3,000-3,500 people about 200 miles south of Silver City. The village has since become world-renowned as an artistic center, home to more than 300 potters inspired by Quezada's work. The village in northwestern Chihuahua sits at 5,900 feet in a high desert valley on the edge of the Sierra Madres, in a setting much like Silver City. When Quezada was growing up in Mata Ortiz in the 1950s, there was no television, not even electricity. At the age of 12, he began to take an interest in the ancient pot shards he found in the neighboring hills and high plains. The area had originally been inhabited by people of the Casa Grandes civilization, a northern Mexican culture that thrived from the 11th century to the mid-14th century, when Mata Ortiz was the city of Paquime. The people of Paquime vanished about 1400, leaving only their pots behind. In 1971, Juan Quezada finally succeeded in making his first pot—using the same techniques those pre-Columbian potters had employed. The stage was set for the rebirth of Mata Ortiz pottery and its discovery at Bob's Swap Shop, five years later. Japanese collectors were among the first to realize that Quezada's work was something special. The Heard Museum in Phoenix, the University of Arizona, the Museum of the Southwest in Pasadena, Calif., and the Amerind Foundation in Dragoon, Ariz., helped spotlight his work here in the US. Seeing Juan Quezada's success, others in the little village—really a collection of five barrios—began to rediscover their cultural heritage and learn pottery, first from Quezada and then with the help of his two brothers and his sisters. Today, perhaps 400 people in the village of fewer than 3,500 people are potters. Mata Ortiz pottery became renowned for its symmetry, balance and eggshell-like thinness, on which the potters paint with ultra-fine human-hair brushes. The annual Fiesta de la Olla offers an unprecedented opportunity to see hundreds of Mata Ortiz pots; even museum exhibitions typically display no more than 50 pots. In addition to works by Juan Quezada and his family, selected works by other potters will be on display, frequently accompanied by the artists themselves. For information on Fiesta de la Olla, contact the arts council at 538-2505, toll-free (888) 758-7289, email info@mimbresarts.org or see www.mimbresarts.org. |
