In
1986 Roberto was typical of most of the laborers in Mata Ortíz. He lived with
his wife, Angela, and two young children in a tiny adobe house of two rooms--a
kitchen and bedroom/living room. He scraped out a living working for others in
the fields and orchards of nearby Colónia Juárez. Although he had a tap in the
kitchen, there was no other indoor plumbing. An outhouse awaited customers at
the end of the lot, a metal tub filled with water in the kitchen served as bath.
The living room walls were pocked with holes and the earthen roof occasionally
leaked. The future prospects were bleak.
The couple were unhappy with their lives and wanted something better for their
children, Maurício and Adriana. "Our lives were very poor," Angela
told me, "we had nothing." They decided that por necesidad, for
necessity, they had to make a change. They decided to cast their fates to the
wind, or the clay in this case, and become potters.
Roberto quit his job as a laborer and the two of them began visiting Angela's
two aunts who had learned potterymaking from Reynalda Quezada. Reynalda is one
of master potter Juan Quezada's sisters. Soon, they were making their own pots
and selling them for little more than pennies. Then, the Fates looked kindly on
Roberto.
He had taken a bag of small black jars to Nuevo Casas Grandes and was showing
them to the owner of a shop when an American archaeologist from New Mexico
walked in. The American was taken by Roberto's latent talent and drove him back
to Mata. There, he explained that he was looking for someone to make and sign
replicas of the prehistoric Mimbres bowls which are so popular in the Southwest.
The archaeologist believed that inexpensive, signed replicas would help thwart
the illegal trafficking in the priceless original ancient wares. He gave Roberto
a book of designs and promised to return in a month.
Roberto applied himself to the new task, creating 11" wide shallow molds
for the plates he made. After sanding, he would paint the Mimbres designs on the
inside, taking his ideas from the books he had been given. The archaeologist
wanted exact replicas, but Roberto would embellish the borders, adding his own
playful personality. Through this meeting with an American, Roberto developed
his own niche, Mimbres-style plates, among the growing number of competing
potters in Mata Ortíz.
Working as a team, the couple also continued making larger and more elaborate
bowls. Angela builds and sands the pieces; Roberto polishes and paints them; the
couple fire the pieces together. They truly work as a team. Roberto signs all
the pottery, although both husband and wife signed the jars which were shown as
part of an exhibit at the University of New Mexico in the spring of 1995.
Roberto's designs are unique: three-part designs, instead of the two or
four-part figures usually painted on the Mata Ortíz pottery. This method is
more difficult to achieve, as he does not have a "reflection" or
"echo" of the design on the exact opposite side of the pot to copy.
His eye must be very good.
I once asked Roberto
what he wanted. His reply was indoor plumbing, a toilet and shower. Through the
sale of pottery, Roberto has achieved that goal. His eclectic style--polychrome,
blackware, plates, some figures--and constant experimentation have made him
popular with both tourists and traders in Mata Ortíz. His house has expanded to
five rooms, including a giant bedroom with a brick fireplace for the adults and
a large bathroom with a hot water shower for the whole family.
Home Magazine Quezadas Veloz Alfredo Rodriguez Nicolás Ortíz Manolo Manuel Mora
© Copyright Michael Williams 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Last updated: January 14, 2006. Email Webmaster at thaimexico2003@yahoo.com