Manuel Mora's Rube Goldberg Affair
An
amazingly wonderful consequence of Mata Ortiz earthenware is that one cannot
generalize about the pottery: how it is made, or what it looks like. The fact
that there is "no one way" helps make so much of what comes out of the
village unique. Another case in point: Manuel Mora.
Manuel has to make his pottery in the evenings and on weekends most of the year,
for he is also a teacher at the local elementary school. He fashions several
sizes of pots, with the largest about seven inches high. It is his colors and
his firing methods that stand out.
It is not uncommon to see five (count 'em, 5) different paints used on Manuel's
polychrome pots. Blacks, browns, whites, reds, yellows, all show up in geometric
forms. However, it is his firing method that really intrigues me.
Like most potters from Porvenir, he preheats his works outside by a fire. On the
day I watched him; several chicas and
two larger pieces were banked against a metal windbreak, heating by a fire. The
fire itself was inside a rejilla,
a lattice or grating. It was composed of four concentric rings of rebar, maybe
two feet wide at the top. Vertical rebar held the structure together. Inside
this was another smaller rejilla. The cottonwood bark fuel was placed
between the two rejillas.
Manuel then placed a pot for firing in a bucket which had a bottom laced in a
network of wire to keep the olla from touching the base. Using ganchas,
or long metal hooks, he placed the whole thing inside the interior apparatus. A
metal cover was placed on top and more wood was laid on the fire. When a piece
is finished he can haul out the bucket and quickly place another bucket with a
pot to be fired inside the rejilla.
Manuel's brother, Pilo, taught him how to make pottery about nine years ago, but
Manuel said he created his own firing method in 1991 after having trouble firing
on windy days. Now, the bucket does a good job of protecting his pots.
Manuel also makes blackware. He fired several pieces together and I discovered
he used a modified smudge form of firing. While the ollitas
were cooking, I noticed he lifted the lid on the bucket and looked at them
several times. Definitely not a reduction firing. Finally, he extracted the
bucket and used tongs to place each of the little, still gray pots in what
looked like a large cookie tin.
Next he scattered powdered cow chips over the pots and settled a sheet metal
square on top of the box, securing it with three bricks. Ten minutes passed and
Manuel eased open the top, placing some hot coals from the fire inside on the
cowchips before covering the tin again. This completed the smothering process,
the oxygen was reduced and eventually, black pots appeared.
Unique method, unique pots.
Manuel Mora lives with his wife and three little children in a neatly-kept house
which includes a pleasant sitting room. He makes and paints his pots in the
kitchen, but can often be seen sitting in front of his house sanding, while
being supervised by a small cat.
If you need help finding his house, ask the guide the Posada recommends--
Antonio Veloz--to help you.
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Last updated: April 14, 2003. Email Webmaster at thaimexico@tripod.com