Master
Potter Awes Art Aficionados
text
by connie ellig; photos by david hopps, connie ellig & tomás
castelazo
On August 13 & 14, 2004, Galería Pérez Meillón
presented Macario Ortiz, one of the
most renowned artists of the Mata Ortiz pottery
movement from northern Chihuahua. Nearly fifty visitors from Ensenada,
Rosarito, Tijuana, and northern and southern California gathered on the
plaza of Ensenada’s Centro Artesanal to meet the amiable master potter
and his family at a wine and cheese reception on Friday evening.
Left
to right: Macaria Ortiz and husband Gerardo Pedregón, Adalberto
Pérez Meillón, María Elena Ortiz, Santos Heder Ortiz,
Macario Ortiz, Taty Heleno Ortiz
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During the early hours, Mario Lamadrid and Manuel Acuña entertained
the crowd with soft piano and saxophone music. But after the sun set and
the wine flowed, and upon the urging of gallery owner and friend Adalberto
Pérez Meillón, Macario himself, a former vocalist in a ranchero
music group, stepped into the spotlight to perform several songs accompanied
by local troubadour and guitarist, Mateo Escalante.
Friday
reception photos by David Hopps & Connie Ellig
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On the following afternoon, the throng of art enthusiasts returned to
Galería Pérez Meillón and the plaza gazebo of Centro
Artesanal for a demonstration of Mata Ortiz pottery forming, burnishing,
decorating, and firing techniques. On both days, a large selection of the
latest one-of-a-kind pottery from Macario, his wife María Elena,
their sons Santos and Taty, daughter Macaria and son-in-law Gerardo Pedregón,
considered one of the best emerging artists, was available to buyers.
Saturday
pottery demonstration photos by Tomás Castelazo
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To experience the incredible artistry of Macario Ortiz, his family,
and other ceramicists from the village of Mata Ortiz, visit Galería
Pérez Meillón, located at Centro Artesanal on Blvd.
Costero 1094 & Av. Castillo, Local #40, Ensenada, or contact owner
Adalberto Pérez Meillón at tel. (646)175-7848; e-mail
About
Mata Ortiz and Macario Ortiz
The village of Mata Ortiz is located in the northern part of the state
of Chihuahua less than 100 miles from Mexico-U.S. border. In the 1970s,
the economic life of this small village of approximately 2,000 people was
transformed when a local artist, Juan Quezada, reinvented the technology
of Casas Grandes pottery-making and revived a tradition that had been native
to this region but lost for over 500 years. Juan Quezada first taught his
family, then other members of his community, how to create high quality
handcrafted, coiled pots (ollas) following centuries-old methods.
Today in Mata Ortiz, there are more than 300 skilled potters with diverse
styles whose constant quest for artistic expression is the source of the
movement’s artistic evolution. The contemporary work, which often incorporates
the motifs of Southwest Native American cultures, has come to be known
as Mata Ortiz Pottery and is considered one of the finest and most innovative
ceramics in the world.
Born in 1956, Macario Ortiz began making pottery at age 21, soon after
the Mata Ortiz pottery movement began revitalizing his village. After observing
his uncles, Emeterio and Felix Ortiz, at work, he began experimenting on
his own and eventually developed his own distinctive style. Each piece
is individually formed, burnished and painted by hand, and then fired outdoors
using dried cow chips, usually taking 70 hours to create from beginning
to end. Macario produces an average of 8-10 pots per month.
Now one of Mata Ortiz’ most celebrated master potters, Macario is also
known as one of its most inventive. He initiated the graphite black-on-black
ceramics trend in his village and is also the first Mata Ortiz potter to
use colorful pottery pigments like blue, purple, green and yellow instead
of just the two traditional colors of red oxide and black
His pottery has been exhibited in museums and fine galleries in the
southwestern United States including Tucson, Phoenix, El Paso, Los Angeles
and San Diego. Several pots were part of a University of New Mexico traveling
exhibit, as well as the “Mata Ortiz Pottery: Transforming a Tradition”
exhibit at the Southwest Museum of the American Indian in Los Angeles and
“The Magic of Mata Ortiz” exhibit at the San Diego Museum of Man. The works
of Macario Ortiz are highly esteemed among international collectors for
their originality, quality and beauty as well as their steady appreciation
in value.
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