October 7

Today was a long day. I have no idea what time we woke up this morning, but it was before eight. Breakfast was scheduled only moments after we woke up, so we rushed over to the breakfast room. There were two people cooking and we could eat what ever we wanted. Not many places let you get whatever you want for breakfast. There was only one other person staying at the B&B. He was an owner of a art gallery that specializes in ceramic pots from Northern Mexico. Through breakfast we had an interesting conversation about a local town and its pottery with him.

The town that we were discussing is Mata Ortiz and it is famous for it’s pottery. Mata Ortiz used to be a lumber town and when the lumber supply collapsed, so did the town’s economy. Meanwhile, a young man was experimenting with different forms of art, mostly pottery. An American discovered him and said “If you quit your job on the railway, I’ll buy anything you make, pay you $300 dollars a month, and create a market for your art in the States.” Even when he was young he had experimented with digging different sources of clay, different tempers, and different firing techniques. When the artist’s family saw that he was making better money with the art, they asked him to teach them. Now that is what most people in the town do—they are potters. There is a big market for their work among American and tourists. The art has saved the town. 800 of the 3000 people are potters. Some of the pots made by the original potter in the town sell for more than $4,000 and many people from the town teach workshops in the US.

The B&B were we were staying had it’s own mini-gallery of Mata Ortiz pottery. The art dealer told us that the pots in that gallery were the best around. They were only the perfect pots. He showed us the different types of pots, and how they were made. Later, the B&B owner/curator explained the potting process in greater detail. First the clay is gathered from the mountains and strained through a cloth to purify it. Then they make and smooth a coil pot. The next step is to polish—“burnish”—the dried clay with a substance that is harder than the clay, usually a rock. They don’t need to do that, but it produces a shiny finish when the clay is fired. The design on some pots is done in alternating patterns of shiny and not shiny surface. Another technique they use is putting graphite on the red clay. When the clay is fired, the graphite turns black. If it has been polished, then the black graphite surface has a silvery shine, otherwise it has a matte finish. The design done with those two reflective surfaces is truly amazing. The other ones have designs and patterns painted on them. The intricacies on those pots are mind-boggling, I would go crazy, and end up smashing the pot if I tried to paint something so detailed. However, I would love to try doing the graphite technique someday…

The actual reason we were in Casas Grandes was to see the Casas Grandes ruins. Casas Grandes is like the Chaco Canyon of Northern Mexico. Except that even Chaco Canyon has Casas Grandes influence, like the keyhole doorways. There used to be 2000 people living in Casas Grandes, a huge amount of people at that time. Like Chaco Canyon though, the city only lasted for about 200 years. In this case however, the civilization ended with raids and a big fire.

Where we are tonight, in Madera (meaning wood), is a longish drive from anywhere. It is situated in mountains that are covered in a Pine forest. Daddy says that the landscape looks like Ireland, just not as green, but the rolling hills and stone spires are the same. I was really missing the mountains and forests of Vancouver, so seeing this area eased the ache in my heart somewhat.

It is late, I am tired and I going to bed. It is 10:20 right now, an hour later than it is in Vancouver.