Spencer H. MacCallum on sat 9 nov 02
replace manure)
Mel, there's no shortage of fuel in Mata Ortiz. No need to be concerned =
on that score. It doesn't have to be cow chips; any dry vegetal material =
will do, and there's an abundance of that. We can lay the question of =
fuel in Mata Ortiz to rest.
On the matter of production methods, you say, "It is so easy to sit =
back and say, 'they must be purists.'" But Mel, no one is saying that. =
And then you seem to say the poor folk of the village must eat too and, =
in effect, collectors be damned.
Let me try to shed some light on the situation, which I've been =
close to for more than 25 years. I chanced to be the one who discovered =
Juan Quezada in 1976. I was able gradually to introduce him to the art =
world, devoting six years full-time and all of my personal resources to =
building a market that would support the level of quality he aspired to. =
I heartily agree that inexpensive pots are important--both for the =
lesser potters who must eat as well, and for the less-well-heeled buyers =
who can't afford to pay a lot of money but would like to have something =
attractive in their home. How the pots are produced is irrelevant. The =
goal is to build and keep a strong market for work that anyone in the =
village can make (yes, by whatever method they choose). Obviously =
something went wrong in the market for low-end Pueblo Indian pottery. =
It's not doing well. The Mata Ortiz villagers don't want to follow that =
trail. They remember how hard life was only a few years back. The answer =
is NOT that these lesser potters must foreswear commercial kilns, the =
wheel, slip casting, etc. The answer lies in understanding marketing. =
And marketing is not the same for them as it is for studio potters in =
this country.
The key is that the pottery that's produced in quantity and in many =
instances looks great must not be confused with the pottery made by =
traditional methods. It is easily demonstrated that there is a market =
made up of collectors for whom process is all important. This is true in =
any field of the arts. Anyone can buy copies of paintings, sculpture, =
music that for all practical purposes are indistinguishable from the =
originals, yet that sell for a small fraction of the cost of the =
originals. If there were no authenticated originals, copies would have =
little value. Where's the market, for example, for prints of all those =
wonderful van Gogh forgeries?=20
The collectors' market needs tender and loving care--for everyone's =
sake in the village. It's what has made Mata Ortiz known. For the =
collectors, It's not the end product alone but the entire process that =
is such a miracle. It's the mere fact that a human being, born naked and =
vulnerable, by using his hands and his brain, can not only maintain =
himself alive in an unforgiving environment like that of northern =
Mexico, but produce world-class art from the sand and rock around him. =
We've lost touch with process. Our great grandparents prepared the soil, =
sowed and harvested the crop, spun the thread, wove the cloth, made the =
garment. But we go buy a shirt. We think nothing of it. We short-circuit =
process by every trip we make to the store. I'm not knocking being able =
to go to the store, which frees us to do all the things we could not =
otherwise do. But the better potters of Mata Ortiz are recalling to us =
the meaning of process--something we've always sort of known but have =
forgotten. That's what the collectors value. They're alive to the art of =
the process. They're all romantics, bless them! As someone has said, =
what they're buying is all the art that can be produced from a dung =
fire.
If it were only the finished product we cared about, we wouldn't =
mind Olympic athletes taking drugs to enhance their performance. We'd =
just be interested in seeing the fastest time in, say, the mile run. But =
that's not all we care about. HOW that mile was run--the process--is all =
important to us. If mountain climbers only wanted to get to the top of =
the mountain, they could do it better using a helicopter. These examples =
reveal another psychological thread in the collectors' idealization of =
process. Like the sonnet in poetry, which is strictly limited in form, =
so traditional Mata Ortiz pottery strikingly shows how creative one can =
be within given limitations. It celebrates the triumph of the human =
spirit over the limitations that are inescapably part of our life.
For all these reasons and probably more, collectors value not merely =
the end product (which needless to say has to be good or they wouldn't =
be attracted in the first place), but also the process as an art in =
itself.
The health of the collectors' market is essential to the industry of =
the entire village of Mata Ortiz. It's threatened at the moment, not by =
some potters adopting higher-tech production methods, but by the =
confusion that has brought with it. Because of the peculiarity of the =
collector's market, all that is needed is a means of introducing =
knowledge into the marketplace so that a prospective buyer will know how =
any pot he might be looking at was made. Then everything works. The =
potters, as they come to understand the psychology of the collectors' =
market--and that it's the driving market for their entire industry--may =
meet this need by impressing a simple, tiny die mark in the soft clay =
where they'll later sign it. That mark will be their guarantee that the =
pot was made in the traditional manner. Their reputation will back it.
This brings me back to my original question to ClayArt. It would =
help keep everyone honest if there were a way of testing a pot to =
determine how it was fired, whether in a kiln or a fire, even if the =
test were expensive and rarely used. Could such a test be devised? Such =
as x-raying to detect a carbon core--or anything else? Given the high =
prices and importance of reputation in the collectors' market, the mere =
fact that it would be possible for a collector to tell the difference =
would, together with the die mark, help to make everything work. With =
its flagship market thus assured, the entire village would prosper and =
anyone could freely experiment with any kind of product, by whatever =
method, in any market that appealed to him. -Spencer=20
Mel wrote:
it must be noted that there are many people in an isolated place, making =
lots of pots. there is no longer cow pies to go around. the entire =
village is making pots, not many raising cattle any longer. i am sure =
the few trees that are there are getting picked clean.
in a perfect world, there would be plenty to go around. just not the =
way it is.
it is so easy to sit back and say, `they must be purists`.
whatever they have comes from selling pots. i have a hunch they will =
figure something out. it may not be what collectors want.=20
when you walk the streets of mata ortiz, some pots are expensive...very, =
some are very inexpensive.
children sell `mata ortiz pots`. they are not all 20,000 dollar =
collector pots. and, those folks like to eat too.
_____________________
Spencer H. MacCallum
P. O. Box 180
Tonopah, NV 89049-0180
775-482-2038 / Fax 5897
sm@look.net
Spencer H. MacCallum on sat 9 nov 02
replace manure)
=20
Nothing wrong with importing high-tech into Mata Ortiz so long as the =
product is not sold as (and cannot be confused with) traditional Mata =
Ortiz pottery. The bread-and-butter of this village is a specialized =
collectors' market that DEMANDS the traditional process. The village has =
captured a large part of this market from the Southwest Indians, who =
lost it by some of their members modernizing their methods and allowing =
their product to become confused with that of those who stayed with the =
traditional methods. We've done some editorials on the subject and got a =
deluge of reader response that is more than 90 percent STRONGLY opposed =
to commercial kiln firing of any kind. We'll gladly email copies to =
anyone who's interested in this (marketing) subject. The collectors =
market-not decorators or tourists--is where all of the big money is, and =
the cachet of this market is what sustains the prices in the low-end =
markets. Strange but absolutely true, in this all-important market, the =
final product is NOT the sole determinant of value.
Having said that, Emi and I would personally like to see all kinds =
of diversification take place in Mata Ortiz, the more the better. =
They're beginning a silver jewelry industry, but could also diversify =
into other ceramic lines using the wheel, high fire, even (perish the =
thought) glazes. These are all experimental markets, however, and these =
villagers have to eat-every single day. As they diversify and modernize, =
they must not jeopardize their established market by letting confusion =
arise in a collector's mind as to when a given pot has or has not be =
fired in the traditional method.=20
To protect the existing, specialized market (even while =
parallel diversification and modernization take place), it would be =
helpful if there were a test to determine whether a pot had been kiln or =
dung fired. The existence alone of such a test would be helpful, even if =
it were pricey and seldom used. Then a potter who had built a reputation =
and got high dollar prices for his pots (Juan Quezada now get $3,500-in =
the village-for anything he makes, and small pots have recently =
auctioned at $10,000 in this country) would think carefully about =
misrepresenting the process he used with a given pot, knowing there was =
the possibility of a test out there, even though it might be expensive. =
So-has anyone any ideas how to test a pot to determine the method by =
which it was fired??
Incidentally, as you touched on and Bruce Girrell amplified upon, firing =
is not the only departure from the traditional approach to pottery =
making in Mata Ortiz, but it's the most dramatic one and the one that's =
right now causing the greatest reverberations in the collectors' market.
Kurt wrote:
... My argument was that it was the Mata Ortiz pots that were so =
wonderful and significant far more than the firing method. Many =
purchasers of Mata Ortiz pots couldn't care less how they were fired and =
they are primarily interested in the beauty of the pots themselves. ...
Technology is finding it's way to Mata Ortiz already such as the program =
to put computers in the school and some of the potters have satellite =
dishes and TV - why not gas kilns. .. why use a primitive technique =
when other methods are possible? ... It's the pots - not the firing that =
seems to me to be significant here. Isn't it possible that on some =
workshop trip to the US that Juan or the Dominguez's may be introduced =
to firing with gas and take back the idea to Mata Ortiz? What's wrong =
with that?
Spencer and Emalie MacCallum
P. O. Box 180
Tonopah, NV 89049-0180
775-482-2038 / Fax 5897
sm@look.net
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