Chelane Commissions Her First Work of Art

During our recent trip to Mata Ortiz, Mexico, we went to the home of Juan Quezada to look at some of his pots (we could only afford to look) and see some of his family's works. We met Juan's son, Alvaro at the gallery in their home and Janene and I bought one of his pots. (More about the pot and the trip later) In talking with Alvaro, he asked if we wanted to see him paint one of his pots since he was painting one to be exhibited in Tuscon. Of course, we jumped at the chance to watch a master potter work in his studio.

We followed Alvaro out into the dirt streets of Mata Ortiz, past a few yards with chickens, dogs and goats to his home on Iturbide Steet. Once there, we found that his studio was his immaculately furnished living room! One thing you will note in Mata Ortiz is the homes may not be much to look at on the outside, with dirt yards, adobe walls and mud roofs, but inside they could be any home in the United States. We watched as he painted this pot. He never even seemed a bit bothered by seven of us looking over his shoulder, asking questions and firing flashes.

He works totally freehand, not knowing what the pot will look like beforehand. He says that he starts to draw some basic lines and then lets the pot tell him what to paint. He usually will repeat that pattern three times. The brush he uses has the hair of a small child, usually someone in his family. The paints are made with local minerals, ground up and mixed with water and fine clay. The pot was made of a specially prepared clay dug from the hills outside town and is astunning dark chocolate brown color. Juan has shared with the entire town his methods for making the pots and his love of quality, but he has kept a few thing like the pigments a secret.

When we went back to Juan's home a day later to look at pots again, Juan's wife Guillermina, came out and said we must stay for a while longer. The family had something to show us. In a few minutes Alvaro came out of the kitchen with the beautiful pot that he had been painting. They had just taken out of the firing and it was still very warm to the touch. When we asked how much it would bring after the exhibition, we inquired if he would be willing to sell it now before it was shown. He hesitated a moment and then said "Yes". The words were no sooner out of his mouth when Chelane piped up and said "I'll buy it!" We had Juan come out to have his picture taken with Chelane and his son and their newest family pot. We all marvelled that Chelane ended up with the very pot she watched the artist make. Chelane brought home 13 pots of her own this time down and every one of them is a treasure.