Mata Ortiz, Mexico: People, Places, Pottery

View photos by Jeffrey & Gloria , from their Februrary 2009 travels near the ancient ruins of Paquime, Casas Grandes and Mata Ortiz in northern Chihuahua, Mexico.

Our travel was during the time the USA had a travel advisory for this area. We did not encounter or see evidence of any problems. Everyone was friendly & helpful.

Mata Ortiz, is a mud brick small village, home to Juan Quezada, the self-taught originator of Mata Ortiz pottery, and scores of artist potters.

Discovered in 1976 by Spencer MacCallum, Juan Quezada and his extended family of brothers, sisters, their children and neighbors became the core of this now thriving pottery community. This beautiful and excitingly varied pottery is as thin as a cracker. We consider these pots to be the finest we've seen or collected.

All the pots are hand built without the use of a potters wheel. Shaping, polishing and painting the clay is entirely done by hand, often in primitive surroundings with brushes made from childrens' hair. All materials and every tool originated from supplies that were readily available locally, as exemplified by the preferred fuel of cow manure or split wood.

This video documents the extraordinary art of the Potters of Mata Ortiz and shows many examples of the many diverging forms of this contemporary art movement rooted in a thousand year tradition but at the same time free and spontaneous. It is the result of a blending of cultural expression, economic need and artistic desire. It should provide pleasure to all who share in experiencing it.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Jeffrey's pottery
• Jeffreys Jeffrey's

[222333cavo]

thank you to Jeffrey and Gloria for puting this videos i am from Mata Ortiz porfavor pongan more videos

[lip1415]

Me alegra que haya disfrutado de nuestro video. Hemos visitado Mata Ortiz en tres ocasiones y se han sentido bien acogida por todo el mundo nos hemos reunido. usted tiene una comunidad de amistad personal capacitado alfareros. Vamos a regresar. Gracias por sus comentarios.

Jeffrey Lippert

[labonita1977]

Muy impresionante el video de DON CUCO SOTOL en youtube. Ese video habla del arte en Janos Chihuahua

[wolverine429802]

Thank you for posting this. Do you remember passing a town called Colonia Cuautemoc on ur way to Mata Ortiz. My Dad lives there and own's a small grocery story and pottery store. His name is Roberto Hernandez.