Manolo Rodriguez--Ever Expanding
Looking at Manuel's pottery
now, one must do a double take to make sure it is earthenware from Mata Ortiz.
Large, oriental-looking animals chase each other around a white field. But, closer
inspection shows that indeed the black and white Casas Grandes style motifs are
rendered throughout the bodies of the animals on the vessel.
Manolo has always been fascinated with animals. Now 29, he began making pottery when he was about 14. He was a good friend of Juan Quezada Jr. and says he spent a lot of time watching his buddy's father fashion ollas and paint them. When he first started, Manuel made animal figurines, covered in the Casas Grandes designs and small pots decorated with the red and black elements.
Eventually, he began working animal figures onto the pots, frog and lizard effigies. Then, he graduated to magnificent large figures of "Indian" women whose upper bodies and faces were tattooed with the Casas Grandes designs. Highly polished black necklaces adorned their necks. These were time-consuming, however and there was great risk of breakage during firing.
In 1994, Manuel took his pottery to a new level. His whole design style changed
as he began painting large animals, fierce cats, dragons and eagles, on
beautifully-shaped feather-light whiteware. Many of the early vessels were
overcrowded with design elements. Now, he begins his painting with sweeping
lines from the rim to the base which divide the pot into fields. More white
space creates a better balance.
"While I am painting the lines I think about what kind of animals I am going to make," he says. Manolo's pots are not symmetrical, like most of the Mata Ortiz pottery. Now, the elements are not repeated around the pot. Thus, it appears the animals are chasing each other in a never-ending race around the white track.
His pottery has taken off in the last few years, as collectors and traders cannot get enough of his dramatic style. Manuel lives north of the school near Hector Gallegos and his own brother Armando Rodriguez.
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