Posted in Books, Creativity, Culture, People, tagged bo, book launch, ceramicist, documentary, Dolores Porras, Grandes Maestros del Arte Popular de Oaxaca, Mexico, Michael Peed, Oaxaca on February 28, 2012|
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Last night I joined a standing-room-only crowd for the book launch of Grandes Maestros del Arte Popular de Oaxaca (Grand Masters of Folk Art of Oaxaca) at the Centro Académico y Cultural San Pablo, in Oaxaca city. This beautiful 340+ page book was the joint effort of the Fundación Alfredo Harp Helú, Fomento Cultural Banamex, the State of Oaxaca, and CONACULTA (National Council for Culture and the Arts).
The press was there in full force, as was governor Gabino Cue, benefactor Alfredo Harp Helu, and a number of other movers and shakers on Oaxaca’s cultural scene. Many of the artisans were also in attendance and several posed for photographs holding their copy of the book at the reception that followed.
One of the artisans who was not there was the late potter, Dolores Porras from Santa María Atzompa, as Parkinson’s disease had claimed her on November 1, 2010. Four pages in the book are devoted to this maestra of pottery and her pioneering work with glazes. Examples of her work can be seen all around Oaxaca, including these scattered in the garden at the hotel, Las Golondrinas.
Her work has inspired imitation, but as is evident in these pieces, her whimsy, creativity, and sense of proportion would be difficult to match.
I want to thank potter Michael Peed for pointing out these hidden treasures…
following a showing of his loving documentary, Dolores Porras: Artista Artesana de Barro Santa María Atzompa. (Click here for an excerpt on YouTube.)
And then there is this one, I discovered on my own, the very next day — on a bathroom shelf, no less — at Casa Linda…
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