Updated May 1 08

News / Social Notes

News

Results of the Pottery Concurso  The 2008 annual pottery competition, the XII Concurso de la Ceramic de Mata Ortiz, went smoothly. Unbelievably, the quality of this pottery continues to rise, and where Mata Ortiz is headed is anyone’s guess. Unfortunately, FONART and Casa de las Artesanias were once more unwilling to exhibit the winning pieces, either in Mata Ortiz or at the Museo de las Culturas del Norte at Paquimé. We’ve complained for years about the brief display of the pottery in the old train station, chiefly that no names of the artists are shown with the pots. But all in all, everyone was pleased with this year’s Concurso. We heard no complaints from the potters. Bearing in mind how difficult is the judging, the winners in the eight categories (again this year there was no children’s category) were:

A. White Polychrome

Blanca policromada

          1st place     Luís Armando Rodríguez

          2nd place    Cruz Rentaría Heras

          3rd place     Roberto Bañuelos

B. Blackware, plain or decorated

Negras: Bruñida, con graffito (con o sin diseño)

          1st place     Adrián Rojas

          2nd place    Gerardo Lucero Andrew

          3rd place     Diego Gerardo Valles Trevizo

        C. Effigies

            Figura o escultura en barro (zoomorfa,antropomorfa, fitomorfa, etc.)

                   1st place     Gerardo Tena

                   2nd place    Guadalupe Ledezma Quezada

                   3rd place     María Sandoval

        D. Colored Clays (red, tan, cream, marbled etc), plain or         decorated

            Barro de color: rojo, café, crema y marmoleadas (con o sin diseño)

                   1st place     Octavio “Tavo” Silveira

                   2nd place    Saralla Acosta Subía

                   3rd place     Jorge Ledezma Loya

        E. Miniatures (up to 6 cm)

            Miniaturas (hasta 6 centímetros)

          1st place     Baudel López Corona

          2nd place    Virginia Lozoya Delgado

          3rd place     Guadalupe Gallegos

F. Innovative Ideas in Design, Form or Color

Nuevas propuestas (diseño, forma o color)

          1st place     Juan Carlos Reyes

          2nd place    Efraín Lucero Andrew

          3rd place     Adolfo Tena Sandoval

G. Sgraffito or Open Work

Esgrafiado (calado o grabado)

          1st place     Hector Eliazar Quintana Piñón

          2nd place    Martín Olivas Quintana

          3rd place     María Guadalupe Trevizo

H. Non-Traditional Colors

Con o sin diseño con pinturas de color no tradicional

          1st place     Elí Navarrete Ortiz

          2nd place    Guillermo Aracely Núñez

          3rd place     Hector Gallegos Martínez

Best of Show

Galardón

          Lorenzo Elías Peña Pacheco

Best Among Competing Former Galardón Winners

Premio a la Excelencia

:         Laura Bugarini

**New Baby Girl! Diego Valles and Carla Martínez Vargas have welcomed their first baby. Carla gave birth (“dar luz” is the expression in Spanish—to “give light”) to Reginia Sophie Valles Martínez, seven pounds, on March 5th, 2008. Diego and Carla married in Carla’s hometown of Zaragoza August 5th, 2006. Although Diego graduated with highest honors in electro-mechanical engineering, as did Carla in industrial engineering, he has opted for a career in art. He was a winner in the annual Concurso two years ago, after returning from a year’s scholarship at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia. Earlier that year, with Carlos Loya, he demonstrated pottery making at an international trade fair in Berlin. Diego’s mother is the well-known Angela of the telephone caseta in Porvenir. Diego, Carla, and Reginia will make their home in Mata Ortiz.

**Politics  In a surprise upset election in July, potter Dagoberto Quintana became the new presidente municipal of Casas Grandes, the municipio (akin to a township or a county) that includes Col. Juárez and Mata Ortiz. A week into his new job, he said it’s a whole lot harder than pottery making. Dagoberto will serve for three years.

**Jewelry Concurso  The first annual, international jewelry competition took place in Mata Ortiz October 5-6, 2007, with jewelers from Taxco and the American Southwest competing with jewelers from Mata Ortiz. Judges were Carlotta Boettcher, Santa Fe, coordinator of New Mexico’s native American artisan’s programs, and Mónica Benítez, head of the Jewelry Design Center for Industrias Peñoles, world’s largest silver producer (a third judge at the last moment could not appear). Salvador Barrera, of Taxco, took first and second places, while Ariel Rentería, of Mata Ortiz, placed first. However, when it came to the Sponsors’ Awards (the four sponsors of the competition being the Matiz Jewelry Company, Mata Ortiz; the Center for Casas Grandes Studies, Casas Grandes; El Pueblo Galería, La Mesilla, NM; and Lapidarios Barrera, Taxco), Salvador beat out Ariel. Best of all was the camaraderie that developed among the participants, with lots of sharing of techniques and terminology. They will continue in close contact and are planning a bigger and better competition for 2008. For information regarding that competition, contact Spencer and Emi MacCallum (915-261-0502, sm@look.net), Center for Casas Grandes Studies, Avenida Victoria #405, Casas Grandes, Chihuahua.

**Memorial CD for Manuel Olivas (1940-2007) Jon Samuelson (520-820-3834, jlsamuelson[at]msn.com) created for Manuel Olivas’ family a moving CD memorial with some extraordinarily fine photos of Manuel. Set to music but without words, it is effectively ‘bilingual.’ Manuel’s obituary appeared in the May 2007 Editorial section (Go to “Archives” and click on “Editorials”). This CD, which we rank among the photographic classics of the potters, is available for $30 with proceeds going to the Olivas family. Contact Spencer or Emi MacCallum (915-261-0502, sm@look.net).

**New Neighbors  Don José Martínez, 91, for many years Mata Ortiz’ beloved mechanic and tire repair person, has moved in with daughter and son-in-law, Graciela Martínez and Hector Gallegos. He sold his home and place of business to artists Carlotta Boettcher and Ana Livingston, of Santa Fe, NM, who will make their home in Mata Ortiz. Before beginning their restoration/renovation, Carlotta and Ana carefully recorded the Martínez home photographically. They plan to operate the “Poet’s Café.” The Café has already opened intermittently. Emi MacCallum performed the first poetry reading there on Tuesday, Nov 27th, heralding the onset of winter with Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.

          Carlotta is a bi-cultural Cuban- American. Her recent medium is art on automobiles (her work was shown at the Tucson Museum of Art Paint on Metal show in 2005). A photographer and filmmaker, she studied under John Collier Jr., has an MA from San Francisco State University in Visual Anthropology, and trained in Paris at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux Arts. For the last twelve years, Carlotta has lived in Santa Fe and Abiquiu, NM, fostering economic development thru the arts in Native American and Hispanic rural communities. She is currently the coordinator of the Native American Artisans Program at the Palace of the Governors—New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe.

          Ana is a noted jeweler. She grew up in Guatemala and has always considered her artistic muse to be the color and texture of the textile arts of the Maya Highlands. How did she come to be in Guatemala? Her grandmother in 1928 was the only passenger on the maiden voyage of Pickwick Airlines from Los Angeles to Buenos Aires. The single engine plane landed in Chihuahua, then got as far as Guatemala City before breaking down. Ana studied at Konstfakt School of Design in Stockholm, Sweden, the home of “Scandinavian Design,” and has a master’s from Stanford University in Museum Education. Her jewelry is represented in more than 60 galleries in the United States. Welcome, Carlotta and Ana!

Contest Winner  Lourdes Villalba (María de Lourdes Villalba Hernández), sister of Sabino and Juan Carlos Villalba, entered an eleven-piece nativity set in the national competition, “Concurso Nacional de los Nacimientos Mexicanos 2007,” in Mexico City last November 29th. She placed first in her category, winning a prize of $12,000 pesos. Way to go, Lourdes!

Armando Valles, brother of Diego Valles and Mata Ortiz’s librarian, entered the “Feria de Calaveritas” poetry contest in the Day of the Dead Festival in the Municipio de Casas Grandes and placed first in the non-school category (categoría libre) for his poem, “Un Problema,” on the theme of little sugar skulls going to the library in search of a book. The Municipio includes Casas Grandes, Mata Ortiz, Colonia Juárez, and an array of smaller towns, and prizes were awarded in four categories—primary, secondary, prep school, and non-school.

Artist-in-Residence  Photographer Raechel Running (928-458-0603), of Flagstaff, Arizona is the current artist-in-residence at the MacCallums’ Casa Azul in Casas Grandes. She is recording the life of the Casas Grandes region with a focus especially on the Cabalgata and Chihuahua’s horse culture. In addition to her photography, which she presented recently in a program at the Phoenix Art Museum, Raechel is a professional river guide in the Grand Canyon with more than 90 rafting trips to her credit. She is the daughter of noted photographer John Running (www.johnrunning.com/Resume.html), whose photographic coverage of the Tarahumara in the early 1980s is exhibited at the Casa Azul (see under “Exhibitions”).  rmr@rmrunningfoto.com   www.rmrfotoarts.com  

Museum Director  Laura Vásquez Vega is the new director of the Centro Cultural Paquimé and the Museo de las Culturas del Norte. She arrived in Casas Grandes on May 28th. Ms. Vásquez has her degree in ethnology from the Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia and did graduate work at the Universidad Metropolitana in Mexico City, the Organización de Estados Iberamericanos (OEI), and the Universidad Nacional in Spain. She has assisted in planning the administration and preservation of such major archaeological sites as Teotihuacan, Tlacotalpan in Veracruz, and Tulum in Quintana Roo.

          Laura succeeds Mercedes Jiménez, who accepted an offer of a post with the Papalote Museo del Niño in Mexico City in order to be near her mother, who has not been well. Mercedes will be a hard act to follow. More than any other director before her and with almost non-existent funding, she made the Museum a vibrant cultural center for our community, with one or more programs a month showcasing local talent—classical guitar concerts; poetry readings; dramatic presentations; dance performances; exhibitions of sculpture, painting and drawing, ceramics, wood art, and photography; book inaugurals; and endless workshops for children. Mercedes was a model of professionalism and was greatly loved as a human being. She will be more than just a little missed. She can be reached by email at <pequechango@hotmail.com>. Que Dios le lleve, Mercedes.

Carl Socolow, of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania won a prestigious Guggenheim fellowship to complete his project of documenting over a number of years the changes that are happening in the ordinary life of the once-isolated village of Mata Ortiz with the completion of the paved road. The Sunday, April 23rd Patriot-News (800-692-7207), of Harrisburg, PA gives it excellent coverage. Contact Carl Socolow: 717-763-7760  mail[at]socphoto.com  www.socphoto.com    www.gf.org/April062006.html   www.gf.org/newfellow.html  http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/CarlSanderSocolow/

Archaeologists in Casas Grandes   A bevy of archaeologists convened last summer 2007 at the MacCallums’ Casa del Nopal in Casas Grandes. Todd Pitezel, University of Arizona, did lab analysis of his material excavated the previous summer from Cerro de Moctezuma, assisted in chipped stone analysis by Jennifer Gutzeit and Keith Mendez, of the University of Tulsa. Under the Southern Chihuahua Project, A.C. ”Art” MacWilliams, University of Calgary, and Alberto “Beto” Peña Rodríguez, UNAM, Mexico City, analyzed collections relating to agricultural origins in the Archaic Period, specifically the beginnings of corn agriculture. Michael Whalen, University of Tulsa gathered soil samples from agricultural features in the region, particularly Cerro Moctezuma, Mata Ortiz, and the Tinaja Valley. Paleopathologist Chris Casserino, University of Oregon, and osteologist Sophie Kohn, University of New Mexico, studied the human bone remains Charles Di Peso had recovered from Paquimé. Tucson dendrochronologist Stuart Scott looked in briefly.

Beth Bagwell Awarded Prize  Beth Bagwell, recent archaeology PhD from the University of New Mexico, who did several seasons of fieldwork in the Sierra and lived in Casas Grandes for a year while writing her dissertation, was awarded the 2007 Popejoy Dissertation Prize by UNM.  This prize for the best UNM dissertation in the last three years in the Social Sciences and Education comes with a $1000 award and a plaque. Beth's dissertation examined the organization of labor in middle-range societies using two small cliff dwellings in the Tres Rios near the Sonora border as her case studies. Congratulations Beth! This is the first time since 1973 that the award has been given for a dissertation in anthropology. Beth (480-967-8580, bbagwell[at]desert.com) is now working with Desert Archaeology in Phoenix.

Restorations Completed, Web Site Begun  Spencer and Emi MacCallum have completed the construction phase of the project they undertook when they moved to Casas Grandes three years ago. Using their combined savings, they restored seven adobes near the plaza and furnished them with local antiques for extended-stay rentals, i.e. a one-week minimum ($150-250/week or part thereof). Their main facility, the Casa del Nopal, has eight rental units and a small library/lecture room opening onto a single garden courtyard. The MacCallums anticipate that the Casa del Nopal, equipped with wireless Internet, will prove attractive for small-company retreats and academic conferences. Tour buses frequently stop for a tour and for Spencer’s brief talk of welcome and orientation on Casas Grandes history. Now the MacCallums are looking ahead to their next project, creating a comprehensive web site for their adopted new home of Casas Grandes: www.CasasGrandesMexico.com.

Mata Ortiz Foundaton Completes Its Second Project

Mata Ortiz pottery traders several years ago at one of their annual Gatherings established The Mata Ortiz Foundation to work with the people of Mata Ortiz to benefit the community. As a fund of the International Community Foundation of San Diego, a 502(c)(3) entity that can make tax-exempt contributions outside the United States, the Foundation combines tax-deductible donations from the United States with local resources. Unidos por Mata Ortiz, a local non-profit qualified under IRS rules as a receiving entity, initiates village projects and requests Foundation grants.

Library: In January 2003, Unidos made a community library its first project. Manuel Mora, school teacher and president of Unidos, obtained Mexican federal and state approvals along with some books and materials, a private Mexican supplier of educational materials donated educational videos, the Ejido de Juan Mata Ortiz provided a building on the river street, and the Municipio de Casas Grandes engaged a librarian, Armando Valles. The Mata Ortiz Foundation donated funds for chairs, desks, shelves, a new door, and bathrooms. The library was dedicated on Saturday, October 8^th, following the annual Gathering of Traders & Friends of Mata Ortiz. The library is fully functional; Spencer and Emi MacCallum, of Casas Grandes, dropped in on a Thursday afternoon and found two children playing chess and half-a-dozen others absorbed in reading.

Schoolrooms: Encouraged by the success of its first Project, Unidos por Mata Ortiz decided that the next thing most needed in the village would be two additional schoolrooms in the badly overcrowded and under-provided secondary school. With partial funding assistance from the Foundation, private donations from the village, and provision of an air-conditioning system by the State of Chihuahua, Unidos completed building and furnishing in January two new classrooms which have now been put into use. More details on this second successful project will be available in the next update of the Calendar. Meanwhile, Unidos por Mata Ortiz is occupied in deciding what its next project will be.

Tax-exempt gifts can be made by check to the Mata Ortiz Foundation at 1420 Kettner Blvd, Suite 500, San Diego CA 92101, or on-line at http://donate.icf-xchange.org/donate.php/mataortiz. For further information, contact Walter P. Parks (909-684-4224), Mata Ortiz Foundation Advisor, 6154 Hawarden, Riverside CA 92506. wparks909[at]charter.net

Social Notes

Tito Carrillo (520-861-2068, TurtleWinsTheRace[at]hotmail.com), of Tucson, our Society Editor, provides information about weddings, obits, quinceañeras, and other events of interest about Mata Ortiz and its “extended family” of Americanos and Latinos north of the line. Kindly notify Tito or us when you learn of interesting things happening of a social nature.

Andreas Goff has returned to the area after conducting a children’s art workshop in Sitka, Alaska. Andreas was artist-in-Residence for several months last year at the MacCallum’s Casa Azul, and his superb ceramic sculptures were the subject of an exhibition at the Museum of Northern Cultures. He likes the area so much that he has bought some property in nearby Col. Cuauhtémoc and is resurrecting a small, old adobe house.

Miriham Gallegos’ lengthy cancer treatment in Phoenix has turned out well. The cancer appears to be in remission, and Miriham has returned home to Mata Ortiz. Welcome home, Miriham!

Lila Silveira and Carlos Sandoval celebrated their daughter, Evilín Sandoval’s quinceañera (meaning “fifteenth year”) on Saturday, May 26, the day of the annual Concurso. This traditional rite-of-passage for a fifteen-year-old girl marking her transition to womanhood is one of the most important events of a woman’s life, and the celebration can be more elaborate than for a wedding. David and Carolyn Moser, of Tucson and several friends (Chuck and Sara Willsey, Norman and Ginny Sherman, Gary Kern, and David McLean) attended by invitation and reported it for the Calendar, saying, “It was one of the most special and amazing things we’d ever been asked to participate in. It really touched all of us.” The quinceañera began with a formal celebration of Mass in the church at 4pm. Here Evilín was attended by a “court” of 15 formally attired young men and 15 young women, all 15 years old or under, the latter including little girls as well as contemporary friends, sisters, cousins, etc. Following custom, Evilín had chosen her favorite color for the color theme, in this case a bright lime green. The men attendants wore lime-green gingham shirts and white Stetsons except for Evilín’s three brothers, who had black Stetsons. Of course all removed their Stetsons inside the church. Following the Mass, a procession (paseo) of cars wound from the church through the village to Evilín’s home in Barrio Porvenir, where Carlos and Lila hosted 400 people to a barbecue dinner under outdoor tents. At 8pm, after dinner, was the ceremony of the evening. The littlest girls in Evilín’s “court” surrounded her in a ring and sang a song with some such words as “I’m leaving my childhood,” and her father then knelt and replaced her lime-green satin flats with high-heeled shoes, signifying her arrival at womanhood. Finally came the traditional waltz. Evilín waltzed first with her father, then with her escort (chambelán) and each of the other 15 male attendants, and finally with various significant others including her grandfather. All of this was prelude to general partying and dancing to a live band into the early hours of the morning. For some photos of this event, go to the Mosers’ link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/EclipsechaserDave/MataOrtizMay2007QuinaEara?authkey=oGrPW_aseu8

Felix Ortiz, one of the earliest potters, almost contemporaneous with Juan Quezada, died last year. He and his late brother, Emeterio, experimented in the early years, developing a continuous-coil technique for building a pot like that used by the Pueblo Indians and unlike the single-coil technique pioneered by Juan. Their method is still largely used in Porvenir at the southern end of Mata Ortiz. Felix was noted for his effigy pots, especially those portraying coyotes, badgers, and crows. His daughters are carrying on his tradition. He is sorely missed.

Uriel López Saenz competed against 120 contestants from all parts of the Republic to win Mexico’s national roping championship (Campeón Nacional de Lazo Doble) April 29-30 last year at Ciudad Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua. Besides prize money, he won a brand new pickup truck. Way to go, Mata Ortiz!!

**Three Norteamericanos recently completed homes in Mata Ortiz.. Susan Hill, pottery trader of Santa Fe, has completed renovation of her home in Barrio López which she acquired from the estate of the late María de Jesús Celado Saenz, maternal aunt of Juan Quezada, widely known as “Tia Chu” (see the March editorial). The house, last on the right before coming to the cemetery, has a fine view of the trees along the Palanganas and the hills beyond. Bill King, pottery trader of Albuquerque, has completed a house just north of the new Salon de Actos, overlooking the town. Both Susan’s and Bill’s work was contracted by Luís Tena, who carried out the MacCallums’ restoration of six historic adobes near the plaza in Casas Grandes. The third new home is that of Phil and Jeannie Stover, of Sarasota, Florida. This beautifully sited new house just north of the church and overlooking the Palanganas River was built by Steve Rose, of Mata Ortiz, a trader who has found that his true calling may be architecture. He now has several homes to his credit in Mata Ortiz. Phil and Jeannie opened their new home last month for the Saturday evening dinner event following the Gathering of Traders & Friends of Mata Ortiz. Collectors of Mata Ortiz pottery among other things, they plan to retire in Mata Ortiz and are developing plans for a collectors’ club on the Internet. 

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