Discovering The Vibrant Art Scene In Puerto Vallarta Galeria De Ollas
GAYPV presents a series of gay travel guides discovering the vibrant art scene in Puerto Vallarta. Puerto Vallarta is a top rated LGBTQ travel destination because of its well developed, thriving gay nightlife and large number and variety of gay bars. That is not all! Puerto Vallarta has a vibrant and thriving art scene that draws international visitors, local and international artists, art collectors and local residents who appreciate its beauty. One of Puerto Vallarta´s most famous contribution to the art scene is its many famous sculptures scattered throughout the city: the 12 world famous Malecon sculptures located along the city’s iconic oceanfront sidewalk, the seahorse in front of Mantamar Beach Club on Playa Los Muertos, and the famous whale La Ballena in Marina Vallarta. These contemporary sculptures, created by well-known Mexican artists, provide a clue the colonial Mexican city is serious about fine arts and culture.
Mexico is internationally renowned for its rich tradition of folk art. As a relatively small colonial city, Puerto Vallarta is literally filled with wonderful examples of talavera, blown glassware, huichol art found in local mercados or a tianguis, the open-air markets. There are several major art events including the weekly Centro Historico Art Walk Puerto Vallarta from October until June annually, the Romantic Zone´s Southside Shuffle, and the free Malecon sculpture tour. Puerto Vallarta´s art scene also includes many examples of street art and murals many found in the Romantic Zone and Centro Historico. The city is home to numerous fine art galleries that showcase a diverse range of art genres, including traditional, contemporary, and indigenous artwork from everywhere in the world. One unique gallery in Puerto Vallarta is Galeria De Ollas which features exquisite pottery made in Mata Ortiz, Mexico. Mata Ortiz is a very small Mexican village located in the state of Chihuahua.
Galeria De Ollas is exclusively dedicated to showcase exquisite pottery pieces from Mata Ortiz, Mexico.
The Creator Juan Quezada the master creator of the Mata Ortiz pottery process of the ancient people of Paquime from Chihuahua, Mexico.
Mata Ortiz is a small rural village in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. Over 300 villagers work to create these beautiful museum quality pieces, each individually designed and handcrafted works of pottery from a process developed by Juan.
When Juan was a 12-year-old boy in the village, he left school to help his family by gathering wood and other forest products in the nearby mountains. As he wandered across the plains, he found shards of ancient pottery. Three years later he began his quest to make pottery the way it had been done by the ancient peoples of Paquime. In 1971 after 15 years of observation, experimentation, trial and error, Juan succeeded. He had recreated the whole pottery making process. From mining, treating and forming the clay to decorating and firing the pots.
Juan soon taught what he had learned to his brothers and sisters. In time, neighbors and friends learned how to produce the pottery and each made their own artistic contributions. In 1976, Spencer MacCallum, a social anthropologist, found three intriguing unsigned pots in a little store in Deming, New Mexico. He searched and found their maker, Juan Quezada. Spencer sponsored Juan and promoted his works and those of his family and friends in galleries and museums with passion and respect for all of them.
The Mata Ortiz Process A True Renaissance Of Ceramics Producing Museum Quality Pieces
Mata Ortiz pottery is considered as one of the finest ceramics in the world. It is the result of the cultural heritage of the pre columbian culture of Casas Grandes, also known as Paquimé. The creation and revival of this process created a true renaissance of ceramic production.
The potters of Mata Ortiz form beautiful thin walled pots with their hands and do not use the potter’s wheel. First, they press into a plaster mold a tortilla of clay to shape and support the bottom. Then they pinch a clay sausage to and around the edge of the tortilla. To form the pot, the potters continually turn, pinch and pull the clay of the sausage to give the pot its desired shape.
Then they let them dry, sand and burnish them using a deer bone or a stone until they get a shiny or mate smooth surface.
To paint the designs they use different minerals like manganese and iron oxide which they grind, filter and mix with water until they get a creamy paint. Then they make a brush with their own hair to paint the thin lines of their precise geometrical or nature’s designs.
Sgraffito technic brings out precision and details
Potters carve out the most intricate designs using the sgraffito technic, that is, they paint completely the piece with one solid color or a mix of colors and then proceed to carve the design as it where a negative of the work. This way all the images of animals, birds, insects, flowers or geometrical or even three-dimensional whimsical designs come to life. Here precision and beauty are shown in the design of the pottery.
Firing the Art
After the piece is completely dry they fire the piece on an electric kiln or an outside pit using wood. If a pit is used, they place the finished piece on the ground, cover it with a bucket, put wood around and open fire for about half an hour. This last method is used usually for black pieces because the bucket is completely sealed to the ground not allowing oxygen to get in otherwise the clay would turn black.
Galeria de Ollas was established in 1998 in Puerto Vallarta and since then has been exclusively dedicated to displaying and selling the works of the finest Mata Ortiz potters. Galeria de Ollas is a renewing member of the Puerto Vallarta Art Walk and located Corona 176, Centro, Puerto Vallarta. Phone (322)223 1045, cel (322)117 2213.
Author: Tim Wilson
Wilson is the founder of GAYPV.com and www.gaybartour.com and has been the leading LGBTQ+ travel and lifestyle authority in Puerto Vallarta since 2005. With over two decades of local expertise, Wilson specializes in being a community advocate and leader for Puerto Vallarta , and local cultural insights that only a long-term resident can provide. He has dedicated 20+ years to advocating for safe, inclusive travel in Banderas Bay, establishing GAYPV as the region's most trusted resident insider.. His work has been cited by major travel publications, and he is widely recognized as a trusted insider voice on Puerto Vallarta’s vibrant LGBTQ+ scene.
