Don Goodrich on tue 12 oct 04
Hi, all you Mata Ortiz fans!
After a brief but busy weekend visit to the village and having gotten
pots and photos home safely, there's a new page on my website with some
pictures from there.
http://dongoodrichpottery.com/mata/mataortiz.htm
Thanks again to all who gave advice last month in response to my plea.
To Mel for the instant encouragement, to Bonnie for her advice to get a
Mexican Spanish phrase book (it works!), and above all to Valice Raffi
for doing some marathon driving to get there, explore and return.
Special thanks to Bruce Girrell for the extensive commentary and list of
folks to meet. Everything was just as you said, and your suggestions
enriched the experience immeasurably.
Jorge Quintana at the Adobe Inn is indeed a gracious host,
who treated us to a demonstration of his technique as well as
a description of the local clays and minerals used for coloring.
Graciela Gallegos encouraged Valice to try her fine line brush
on a sample of her pottery. Ana Trillo invited us into her home
and demonstrated her technique for making and decorating pots,
answered endless questions about the application of graphite and
manganese on blackware, and showed off her firepit.
Folks would drive up in their cars or trucks with boxes of pots on the
seat, and offer their wares. Others would open the doors of their homes and
wave us in, often rather insistently, to show off pots arrayed on the beds.
Dollars do seem to be the preferred medium of exchange, and it wasn't
long before the phrase book yielded the indispensible
"Yo quedarse sin dinero."
The new paved road is complete, and goes right across the railroad
tracks into town. No more bad roads to deter the turistas, and
road signs make the place easy to find. The innocence of Mata Ortiz
may be nearing an end, but at least for now it's still worth the trip.
Don Goodrich back in the cool, colorful autumn of Zion, Illinois
goodrichdn@aol.com
http://dongoodrichpottery.com/
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