How lucky can a gal get?
On day five back in Oaxaca, a last-minute invitation found me venturing behind an unassuming red iron door at Libertad 24, San Antonino Castillo Velasco and being greeted by welcoming figures of all shapes and sizes gathered throughout a large earthen courtyard.
This is the home and workshop of Grand Maestro, José García Antonio, also known as the blind potter.
Losing his sight to glaucoma, he continues to sculpt sensual and evocative figures from the local barro (clay).
He was married to his beloved wife, Santa Teresita Mendoza Reyna Sanchez, in 1987.
Her face and body are etched in his memory and continue to provide a model for many of his female figures.
The twinkle in those all-seeing sightless eyes and the artistry in those gifted hands give form and life to his creations in clay.
“It would seem that the hearts of the potters of Oaxaca are made of clay. Their emotions, intuitions, joys, fears and fantasies flow through their bloodstream until arriving at the hands which knead the clay and, as if by magic, transform it into exquisite ceramic sculptures.” (quoted from “The Great Masters of Mexican Folk Art.”)
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View From Casita Colibrí 
It’s a wonderful place! I’ve been there a couple of times, and those lifesize figures all around you make it a unique ‘party’! Did you come home with a ‘roommate?’
Just two little mezcal cups of Don José’s face made by their daughter, Sara.
Hi Shannon, this is lovely, how you’ve captured the artist. I hope to go there too, in April, if I can manage to get in.
No problem getting in… visitors are always welcome… just ring the buzzer to the side of the gate!
wow, thanks again for sharing your amazing experiences.
Thanks, Alana!
Fantastic! Thanks for the photos and story!
Thanks, Ron! They are such warm and welcoming people.
Beautiful artwork. Thank you for featuring this amazing artist. He could pose as one of his own statues. There is a lot of experience written on his face.
There are many statues of him! And, I bought 2 mezcal cups with his face, created by his daughter.
Can it really be cataracts! A simple surgery to reverse the blindness!
Can’t someone or some organization step up to help him
I’m not so sure it’s “just” cataracts. He is well known and revered among those with influence and power (in and out of Mexico), that I find it hard to believe that if something could be done, it wasn’t.
I’m swooning!
I know, I wanted them all! Though I am lucky enough to have two on my terrace, courtesy of the woman who built my apartment complex.