Every piece includes its certificate of authenticity. Every piece is unique and is signed by the author. Shipping worldwide: United States / Canada / Mexico - Free - 1 to 4 business days Europe / Central and South America - 35 USD - 3 to 5 business days Asia / Oceania - 60 USD - 3 to 7 business days Juan Mata Ortiz is a town in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, located about 35 kilometers southwest of Casas Grandes, near the ruins of Paquime and Colonia Juarez. It is famous for the pottery produced in it. The population receives its name in honor of Juan Mata Ortiz, a Chihuahuan soldier who during the XIX century distinguished himself in the combat of the Apache tribes in the region, until he was killed in an ambush by these groups. It is located in a valley on the banks of the Casas Grandes River, at the foot of a hill known as "El Indio".One of the techniques they use is that of total reduction and smoothing, a low-temperature technique, or that of graphite, which is using it in two ways: as a majority part of a slip and applied in dry powder on the already burnished pieces. In both cases, they let the pieces dry and then burnish them again. To make a pot, potters start by kneading a clay tortilla that they compress with their fingers into a shallow, plate-shaped plaster matrix. After cutting the excess from the edges, they make a thick strip of clay and join their ends to form a ring of the same circumference as that of the mold. They place this large annular 'chorizo' on the edges of the mold and attach it to the tortilla around it; with your fingers press it up to form the walls. Then they refine their shape and match the surface. The walls are thinned evenly by scraping the outer face with the teeth of a piece of saw, while pressing with the fingers from the inner face. When you touch a finished vessel, you can feel the artist's fingers that molded it inside. About the artist Héctor Gallegos Martínez (Chihuahua capital, 1981) is heir to a
well-known family ceramic tradition. In the effort to develop his own
path, he abandoned painting for geometric patterns to experiment with an
animal-themed language. He masters all ceramic manufacturing processes.
He frequently performs collaborative works with Laura Burgarini.
Together they promote the contemporary tradition in Mata Ortiz at a
national and international level. |