Thursday, February 28, 2008

OCOTLAN de MORELOS - AGUILAR POTTERS

The stars of the pottery industry in the Oaxaca valley are the four Aguilar sisters: Guillermina, Irene, Josefina, and Concepción. The sisters and their families all live next to one another, on the right of the main highway before you get into town.


Their houses are recognizable from the pottery ladies on the wall. The Aguilars learned their trade from mother Isaura Alcantara. Guillermina is the oldest, then Josefina with 3 children in the business, Irene with 3, and Concepción together with her 3 daughters.

Their houses and shop are very humble and it is clear they do not generate a lot of income from their trade.
Each sister has her own specialty within the general subject of village ladies elaborated in various ways. All show in major museums in Mexico and abroad; Irene demonstrates in the U.S. regularly, and they have a large international clientele.


Their figures of women with bell-shaped skirts as the base of the sculpture, carry fruit in baskets, flowers, turkeys, animals and the other things one finds in markets, or perhaps the sun, moon and stars!

Irene and Guillermina produce ladies of the night, exotic creatures with some key anatomy showing. Josefina and Concepción create astounding scenes of multiple figures as well: weddings, nativities, even whole town plazas with palm trees and a bandstand full of musicians.


About 75% of the Aguilars’ work is sold to Mexicans for resale, the rest to clients from abroad. The markups can be steep; Guillermina saw a piece of hers for sale in Toronto for $500 (Canadian) that she sold for100 Mexican pesos. The Aguilar studio is open to visitors and you can purchase pieces from a room near the entrance, but don’t expect to be entertained by this hard-working family. Sometimes sixty tourists arrive in a day, and not one buys anything.

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