Mata Ortiz is a small village in the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

of Chihuahua, Mexico, less than from the US-Mexico border. The community is one of the designated ''localidades'' (localities) in the ''municipio libre'' (municipality) of

Casas Grandes Casas Grandes (Spanish for ''Great Houses''; also known as Paquimé) is a prehistoric archaeological site in the northern Mexico, Mexican state of Chihuahua (state), Chihuahua. Construction of the site is attributed to the Mogollon culture. Casa ...

, one of several such pueblos in a wide,

fertile Fertility in colloquial terms refers the ability to have offspring. In demographic contexts, fertility refers to the actual production of offspring, rather than the physical capability to reproduce, which is termed fecundity. The fertility rate is ...

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

long inhabited by

indigenous people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

. Mata Ortiz is located at the base of a mountain known as El Indio and on the west bank of the Rio Palanganas, a tributary of the Rio Casas Grandes. The ancient ruins of

are located nearby. As of 2010, Mata Ortiz had a population of 1,182.

History

The town was originally established as “Pearson” during the

Porfirio Díaz José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori (; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915) was a General (Mexico), Mexican general and politician who was the dictator of Mexico from 1876 until Mexican Revolution, his overthrow in 1911 seizing power in a Plan ...

presidency in the late 19th century with its economy based on agriculture, timber, cattle and the nearby railroad. After the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution () was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from 20 November 1910 to 1 December 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It saw the destruction of the Federal Army, its ...

the town’s name was changed, to honor Juan Mata Ortiz, a local hero who fought against the

Apache The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...

s in the 19th century. After the Revolution was in influx of people and land was redistributed under the

ejido An ''ejido'' (, from Latin ''exitum'') is an area of communal land used for agriculture in which community members have usufruct rights, which in Mexico is not held by the Mexican state. People awarded ejidos in the modern era farm them indiv ...

system, but many residents still relied on seasonal labor and work with the railroad to get by. Rail work ended in the 1960s when the repair yard was relocated to

Nuevo Casas Grandes Nuevo Casas Grandes is a city and the seat of the Nuevo Casas Grandes Municipality in northern Mexico. It is located in the northwestern part of the States of Mexico, state of Chihuahua (state), Chihuahua, on the Casas Grandes or San Miguel river ...

, leading to the town’s decline, which continued until the 1980s.

Ceramics

The making of pottery in the town began in the 1980s, and now about 300 of the 2,000 inhabitants in the town make a living from making ceramics, with about two-thirds of the population having employment indirectly related to the craft, either providing fuel for kilns or offering guest rooms to traders and tourists. The handicraft has raised living standards considerably in the municipality from the poverty of the early 1980s. Before ceramics, there was only seasonal agricultural jobs for men and for women there was nothing. Pottery has allowed residents to provide things like electricity, plumbing, vehicles and more to families. The movement to create the pottery has included women as well as men since its beginning, and today women of all talent and expertise levels are found in the town. The town is known for its ceramics which are a revival of the Paquimé tradition, conserving much of its style, decoration and color. The air is often filled with gray tendrils of smoke from the many kilns. The town has hosted a ceramics competition called the Concurso de Cerámica since 2008, now supported by

FONART The Fondo Nacional para el Fomento de las Artesanías or National Fund for the Development of Arts and Crafts (best known as FONART) is a dependence of the Secretariat of Social Development (SEDESOL). It was established in 1974 to promote and prote ...

, and is a major handcrafts event in Mexico. Other support for artisans comes from other federal and state agency for supplies and training. Mata Ortiz has recently seen a revival of an recontact

Oasisamerica Oasisamerica is a cultural region of Indigenous peoples in North America. Their precontact cultures were predominantly agrarian, in contrast with neighboring tribes to the south in Aridoamerica. The region spans parts of Northwestern Mexico an ...

pottery tradition. Inspired by pottery from the ancient city of

Paquimé Casas Grandes (Spanish for ''Great Houses''; also known as Paquimé) is a prehistoric archaeological site in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. Construction of the site is attributed to the Mogollon culture. Casas Grandes has been desig ...

, which traded as far north as

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

and

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

and throughout northern Mexico, contemporary potters are producing work for national and international sale. This new artistic movement is due to the efforts of Juan Quezada Celado, the self-taught originator of modern Mata Ortiz pottery, his extended family and neighbors.

References

Books

* Bezy, John V., & Scott, Stuart D. ''The Artistry and History of Mata Ortiz''. *Cahill, Rick. ''The Story of Casas Grandes Pottery''. Bodjum Books, 1991, * Lowell, Hills, Quintana, et al., ''The Many Faces of Mata Ortiz'', Rio Nuevo Publishers, Tucson, AZ, 1999; - an overview of many of the Mata Ortiz potters and their individual styles. * Parks, Walter, ''The Miracle of Mata Ortiz'', The Courier Press, Riverside, CA, 1994; - outlining the history of Mata Ortiz pottery.

External links

*, maintained by Spencer and Emalie MacCallum. Links to photos of Mata Ortiz pottery, information on travel & tours, news, exhibits and other events related to the village of Mata Ortiz and Mata Ortiz pottery.
The Story of Mata Ortiz Pottery

The Renaissance of Mata Ortiz
documentary on Mata Ortiz pottery.

at the American Museum of Ceramic Art, June 9 - August 25, 2007. {{coord, 30.179, N, 108.021, W, display=title, source:eswiki Populated places in Chihuahua (state) Indigenous ceramics of the Americas