this exhibition based on the book mud and fire. The art of pottery from Oaxaca has been around the world and in 2019 it arrived at the Amparo Museum in Puebla.
With a crowded room to listen to the talk between the artisans Elia Mateo and Loving Peter, accompanied by our director Kythzia Barrera and Eric Mindling, we inaugurate Clay and Fire. The Art of Pottery in Oaxaca in it Amparo museum in the City of Puebla. The inauguration was also attended by more than fifty potters and potters from Oaxaca, many of them entering a museum for the first time. An unprecedented event!
based on book of the same name, written by Eric Mindling and edited by Innovating Tradition, this is an exhibition on the simple and functional pottery of the indigenous peoples of Mexico that could easily be labeled as rustic, and it is. Prejudice makes it less likely to be labeled sophisticated, and yet it is too.
Almost all of Oaxaca's pottery towns are completely unknown outside of the regions where they sell their work. Their craft has been fading rapidly, due to radical changes and the pressures of the social, economic and even environmental context, so that there are few communities in which traditional pottery is strong and stable.
Even though these potters may seem indifferent to this fact, the rest of us, without even knowing it, are missing out on learning from them. Their knowledge and experience have led them to the creation of objects that beautifully balance elegance, functional design, social well-being and compatibility with the environment.
Fire and Clay It is made up of pieces from 35 pottery towns in Oaxaca and its surroundings, which constitute a cultural unit beyond political borders. It is the fruit of 20 years of exploration in rural Oaxaca. We gladly present it so that we can open our eyes —and the other senses— to the subtle and intense beauty of this rustic, sophisticated, simple and complex pottery.
