AN ANCIENT ART REBORN: The Potters of Mata Ortiz
Pottery from the Collection of Holly and Carl Socolow
The
village of Mata Ortiz is located in the high Chihuahua Desert of northern
Mexico, heartland of the extinct Paquime or Casas Grandes culture (c.1150-
c.1450), which extended into southern Arizona and New Mexico. Apaches dominated
Chihuahua during much of the late 19th Century, and United States troops
pursued Geronimo throughout the region. In 1916 Pancho Villa headquartered
in the nearby San Diego Hacienda. The village then bore the name Pearson
after the American founder of an early 20th Century sawmill, only later
taking its present name of Juan Mata Ortiz, or "Mata Ortiz", after a Mexican
Indian fighter. Until the 1970s this region might as well have been called
"Forgotten Mexico".
Fifty years ago, inspired by ancient shards from the Paquime civilization, a teen-age boy, Juan Quezada, set about to re-invent ceramic technology. As a solitary wood gatherer in Mata Ortiz, he had found these shards in the hills above the village. Through 16 years of experimentation, without any input from the outside, he succeeded in creating polychrome pottery that was structurally and artistically the equal of the originals.
In 1976, an American anthropologist with a fine-arts background, Spencer MacCallum, discovered some unsigned examples of Quezada's work in a secondhand shop in Deming, New Mexico. Impassioned by his discovery and sensing the importance of this anonymous work, he searched for and found the artist. With MacCallum's sponsorship and promotion and his own talent, Quezada set standards of quality and innovation that defined and are still defining this new tradition.
Since
then Quezada has shared his knowledge with family members and fellow villagers.
Today, in a village of not more than 3000 people, more than 400 potters
are engaged in the practice and development of what is now recognized worldwide
as a high art form. Each artist has developed a signature style that he
or she is constantly refining and developing and taking to progressively
higher levels of exploration and creativity.
Today, the village and its artists are in what might prove to be the classic period of Mata Ortiz pottery. There is considerable dynamism among the potters. They directly and indirectly exchange ideas and techniques, but are also strongly competitive. Museums and collectors have created a demand for their work, which is widely acknowledged to be the finest hand-built ceramic art being made in the world today. Examples can be found in public and private collections in the United States, Canada, Argentina, Mexico, Spain and Italy. The Chihuahua state government commissioned three pots from the village and presented them to Pope John Paul II on his visit to Mexico. In 2000, Mexico's president Ernesto Zedillo awarded Juan Quezada the Premio Nacional de los Artes, the highest honor Mexico can confer on a living artist.
In
many respects these highly sophisticated artists are still villagers living
in simple, traditional ways. Yet the ongoing transformation of a number
of heretofore isolated northern Mexican villagers into a community of world-class
ceramic artists is having a profound impact on their lives, the life of
their village and on the social, economic and cultural life of the surrounding
region. Their pottery art is a clay-based economic engine that is changing
life in the village and bringing Mata Ortiz into its place in history. The
Chihuahua state government recently paved the road that leads south from
Nuevo Casas Grandes to Mata Ortiz. It is also involved in marketing the
artistic productof the village and developing a tourism-based infrastructure
throughout the region.
Dozens of travel companies have begun operating tours to Mata Ortiz, the largest scheduling three per week averaging 40 visitors each. This activity is creating a flurry of new growth in accommodations and services. Outsiders have created some tourist facilities, but the majority, including two recent restaurants, are operated by villagers.
It is impossible, of course, to predict what the effects of these changes will be on the village, the artists or the pottery that they create. What is clear is that the present moment presents a unique opportunity to view remarkable ceramic art, produced by remarkable artists who have made an ancient tradition new. This exhibit offers visitors to the Susquehanna Art Museum a quick look at an ancient art reborn.
Sponsored by a grant from the McCormick Family Foundation.