PAINTED CANYON GALLERY

Castle Rock, Colorado

March 21,2003

Welcome to my pottery page.

      Indian pottery from the southwestern United States. These are not antiques, but recently handcrafted by modern artists. One of our most popular artist is Helen Benally, a truly native Navajo, gifted with knowledge and tradition of exquisite design and lore.

      We also have Mata Ortiz pottery from Mexico. The Mata Ortiz pottery is a rediscovery of the old, coil method of making pottery. The villagers of Mata Ortiz, a small community about 250 miles south of Columbus, New Mexico, led by Juan Quesada, have taken the art of hand made pottery to a new level. They dig their own clay and purify it. The hand painted pottery is baked by setting the pottery in a bed of sand and covering it with a washtub, then covering the tub with cowchips and setting fire to them!! There is not a single pottery wheel in the entire village. All the paints are naturally occurring minerals to the area and the brushes are made by hand from children's hair!

      If the tub is left slightly above the sand bed, allowing oxygen to reach the pottery while being fired, the pottery turns a lustrous, metallic black; if sealed off, it retains the natural clay color. Several colors of clay are found in the area, one is an alabaster white. By mixing layers of white and red clay a marbled effect is found and is very attractive. It is rare to find two different colors of clay they can marble in this way without cracking and ruining the piece, but they have solved the problem in a very artistic manner.

      Although the method was rediscovered by Juan Quesada, he taught his family the art and eventually the entire village. Some individuals have at least as much talent as Juan, and some seem to think even more so, although if his name is on a piece, that makes it almost priceless!

      All prices FOB, Castle Rock, CO.

Typical Navajo pottery with close-up detail featuring "The End of The Trail..."

#82 9"high x 7.5"wide $150

Pottery.

#70 4"high x 11"wide $90

#81 12"high x 9.5"wide $285

#109 10"high x 8.5"wide $189

#A58 10.5"high x 4.5"wide $90.00

#A47 6"high x 10.5"wide $185

#58 5.5"high x 6.5"wide, with 1.5" hole in the center $90

#A2 8.25"high x 6"wide $110

#A1 10"high x 7"wide $325

#20 12.5"high x 11"wide $230

#18 5.5"high x 4.5"wide $50

#A21 11.25"high x 11"wide $230

#A25 11"high x 11"wide $230

#A22 12.5"high x 11.5"wide $230

#2 8.25"high x 7"wide $95

#10 14"high x 7.5"wide $275

#27 15.5"high x 6.5"wide $195

#A44 14.5"high x 9.5"wide $150

#56 10"high x 7.5"wide $150

#39 4"high x 10"wide $135

#55 3.5"high x 10"wide x 7 wide $100

#65 10"high x 6"wide $75

Mata Ortiz marble clay. NOT FOR SALE(personal collection)!

Mata Ortiz pottery.

Black Mata Ortiz.

While you are here, please visit.. The Barn Shops .. where our Gallery is located?

Thank you for visiting the Painted Canyon Gallery site.