Comments:

• recneps48 said:

  Reynaldo was indeed innovative in the early years, going through phases of development as an artist. He was the first to experiment with letting a pot dry and then sanding it; before that, all decoration had been applied while the pot was still leather hard. He also innovated the marbling effect with different colors of clays. This came about when he hadn't enough of one kind of clay for a pot and supplemented it with another. Of course in scraping the clay to prepare the surface, a uniform skin formed. Only when the pot dried and he sanded it did he work through that skin and see the variegated clay colors. A potter from Jemez Pueblo in New Mexico told me that was exactly the way the Jemez potters discovered the marbling technique. In later years, Reynaldo discovered and perfected "tejido." He'd been called away from a pot he was working on, and when he returned, he idly pressed the point of his knife into it to see if it was too stiff to continue working. He liked the effect and played with it, making a line of impressions and then reversing the direction of his knife on the line beneath. The formula proved so popular that he has seldom departed from it, varying only the shapes of his pots. Today, his son, Mariano, is at least as good at "tejido" as his father; Reynaldo says he's better.

  Posted: 2:45 PM PST, 4/1/2008

• moldycarrots said:

  The Quezada family are amazingly talented. The interesting thing to contemplate is that had Juan Quezada not attempted to restore the ancient pottery technology and design, it's likely none of the family, including Juan, would have ever discovered their amazing talent!

  Posted: 8:04 PM PST, 1/29/2008

• jrpowell said:

  I've seen his pottery and find it very beautiful. He must have had a natural ability to learn such a skill, and only after 5 years of practice before he got his nick name for his great work. You should have put up an picture of the artist next to your blog, or maybe a favorite pot of yours. People respond well when it shows something personal. Good job on the blog. Keep it up. It is great to read a little more about the Mata Tradition!

  Posted: 3:33 PM PST, 1/14/2008