Salvador has won prizes all over the world. His work is Mexican folk art at its best! He is a featured artist in the book "Great Masters of Mexican Folk Art".

If you are interested in purchasing Salvador's work, please call Marianne Carlson at 011522 376 765 7485 or email mariannecarlson@gmail.com

(Our thanks to Karen Henderson for the use of her photographs)

The Masters of Tonalá

Almost everyone living at Lakeside has shopped in the town of Tonalá on the outskirts of Guadalajara. Thousands of visitors come to Tonalá to purchase all types of Mexican-made handcrafts, much of it the kind of "souvenirs" tourists will take home with them. Not that there is anything wrong with purchasing a highly glazed ceramic sombrero that can be used as an ashtray, but Tonalá has so much more to offer in the way of Mexican art.

Very few realize they are visiting a town where three famous men in the world of pottery live - Salvador Vázquez Carmona, Florentino Jimón Barba and Nicasio Pajarito González. If you are a "power shopper" you might find one, maybe two stores that carry the work of these men but in my eight years of searching through Tonalá's hundreds of shops, I never found them until I sought them out and visited their homes.

As Coordinator of Feria Maestros del Arte art show held yearly in Ajijic, I visit many artists' homes in the course of a year. I travel in search of the best artisans México has to offer. I was delighted to discover three men that exemplify the highest quality and oldest pottery traditions in México right in my backyard.

Salvador Vázquez Carmona
One morning a few months ago, I set out with a friend to find three "legends" in the pottery world. I turned on the street I had written down on my post-it note and driving over one, two, three topes (speed bumps) found no green house on the right. I had no telephone number so I couldn't call and ask for directions. What to do? Perhaps it was four topes instead of three. I continued on past the fourth tope and there was a green house on the right side of the street. The ladies outside the house were cooking something that smelled marvelous. "Yes," they said in unison, "this is the house of Salvador Vázquez Carmona."

One of the ladies disappeared into the house and returned asking us to follow her. We were led upstairs to a display room where we were greeted by Salvador. Awards, plaques and ribbons hung everywhere noting the many achievements and accolades he had garnered throughout his lifetime. His work can be found in museums are collections all over the world. Gazing around the room my breath was taken away by the incredible pottery covering the tables, shelves and floor.

I told Salvador I was there to invite him to participate in Feria Maestros del Arte in November. He asked if other potters from Tonalá would be attending. When I told him I had planned to invite two or three other Tonalá artists, his entire demeanor changed. He said he would not attend if other potters were coming. I was rather taken aback but went on to explain that this is not just another art fair. Feria Maestros del Arte is completely non-profit and organized by an army of volunteers. Artists pay no fee or percentage of sales. They are housed with local families, fed two meals a day, and assisted with transportation, if needed. His face softened once again and he asked to see my list of artists.

"Why not invite one artist from each of the three famous Tonalá pottery types?" he asked. He continued, "Who else were you considering?" I told him I had thought of also inviting Nicasio Pajarito González and Florentino Jimón Barba. He smiled. These were exactly the men he would recommend as they are the "masters" of bruñido, bandera and canelo pottery.

Salvador Vázquez Carmona is a true master of bruñido (burnished) pottery. He is recognized as being the "best" artisan in Tonalá, even among his peers. When you speak to younger potters, they say his name with reverence. His elegant designs and traditional pottery forms are legendary

At the age of six, Salvador was already learning from his mother the techniques of smoothing, painting and firing the clay. Later, he studied with Jorge Wilmot (another legend in the world of pottery). Over the next 20 years while working with Jorge, Salvador began to define his own style and vision. Salvador makes his own natural dyes to decorate his pottery with elaborate Mexican designs, suns, moons, or flowers - he is known all over the world for the colors he has developed. His individual style is often represented in the designs of Tastoán dancers and doves painted on many of his pots.

Famous, not only for its decorations and beautiful burnished surface, Tonalá pottery is also favored because of the flavor, fragrance and freshness of liquids stored in it, and for its curative properties, to which the custom of eating it is attributed. For this purpose, the potters still make miniatures, which they try to keep "tender" (not fired completely, still somewhat soft) when firing because this is considered to make them "taste better." Pregnant women have a particular craving for this ware.

According to 17th century documents, no object brought back by Columbus achieved more popularity in Europe that ceramics produced in different areas of the American colonies. Treasured by the nobility, they were esteemed as having esthetic value due to the qualities of the clay and the pleasant aroma emanating when filled with water or any other material.

The clay from which this pottery was made became so highly esteemed that an unusually surprising phenomenon occurred: the pottery shards were collected with almost the same amount of interest as a whole pot. The reason for this was that these small shards were used as accessories to perfume personal ornaments and that the shards were eaten by women, including nuns, as true delicacies.

Nicasio Pajarito González
After bidding farewell to Salvador, we went off in search of the second artist on our list, Nicasio Pajarito González. Our map clearly showed the street he lived on, but no matter where we went we couldn't get close to it. After driving back and forth, stopping at the gas station to ask where the street was, and getting nowhere following directions given by three people, we decided to telephone Nicasio. But, I had four different telephone numbers. The first didn't answer, the second was disconnected, and the third was a relative who verified that the fourth number was in fact Nicasio's.

I called and told him we were hopelessly lost and asked if he would be kind enough to meet us at the gas station. He said he would be right there. A bus pulled up, stopped and an elderly man and young boy got off and walked toward my van. I had just assumed Nicasio had a car and was driving to meet me. No, rather than tell me he had no car, he and his grandson hopped on a bus. When I apologized for the inconvenience, he simply said this happens all the time and that he was happy to come and meet us.

We arrived at his house across from the plaza of the little barrio where he lives and we entered his house. Sitting in his courtyard we sipped cold lemonade. I told Nicasio about Feria Maestros del Arte and asked if he might be interested in coming. I explained our interest in helping to preserve the art of one of the world's most creative cultures through exposing the public to Mexico's artistic traditions at the show.

A strange look came over Nicasio's face and I thought for a moment he was going to cry. He said to me, "In my lifetime, I have had very few Mexicans come to tell me they want to help preserve my work and here sits two foreign women saying they spend most of their year putting an art show together that is just for Mexicans." I couldn't hold back the tears as I explained that my love of Mexican art and traditions have led me to this small attempt in helping to see that they endure. "I believe this is what I am meant to do with my life," I gurgled.

Nicasio had no work available as he had just returned from a very large show in México City. Besides, he says he is getting too hold to work very hard and so does not produce much pottery any more. I asked if he thought he could have a body of work together for the Feria and he said, "Of course."
The many cultures of the world are becoming a melting pot of different colors. México is no exception. Take the bronze complexion of its indigenous peoples and add the white of the conquistadors and you get a color similar to cinnamon or canelo. This is the color of Nicasio Pajarito González' pottery - the color of his heritage.

Born in Tonalá, Nicasio has dedicated his entire life to the study of clay. His children, Zenón and Isabel work with him, learning his love of his craft. Handles in the shape of bulls or horses are just one of the ways in which his pottery is unique. The care and love he builds into each piece he creates is evident when you look at the finished product.

Nicasio's pottery has garnered many awards all over the world. His work is Mexican folk art at its best!

Florentino Jimón Barba
We had used up the best part of a day finding Salvador and Nicasio. Still off we went to find Florentino Jimón Barba. His house was very easy to locate as he lives right in the center of the main shopping area of Tonalá. However, he wasn't at home. I asked his father to give Florentino the information on the Feria and have him call me. I didn't hear from Florentino in a week, so I called him.

It continues to amaze me that even after I explain what the Feria is about and that it is free, so many of the artists seem not to believe me. Of course, they would never say that, but something in their demeanor tells me they are not convinced this would be a good show for them. Florentino was no exception. He hemmed and hawed about how busy he was, but I don't give up easily. After telling him that Salvador and Nicasio were also attending to represent the two "other" Tonalá pottery types, he accepted my invitation without hesitation. So, I Florentino and I have never met in person although we promised to get together before November.

He told me that from a very early life, the colors of the Mexican flag have been a focus in his life. This is because his family has been making the tri-color bandera (flag) pottery for over 50 years. His round pots, small bowls, pitchers, vases with slender, elegant necks, platters, sets of dishes and other items from daily life have won prizes all over the world.

Bandera pottery gets its name because it features the colors of the Mexican flag - red, green and white. The background is red, decorated with traditional designs in green and white. Florentino continues to use an earth pigment called matiz for the white on his pots, even though many other artists now use commercial paint. He extracts the matiz himself from a nearby hill. This is a difficult process since it is very hard. It is ground into powder and then is ready to use for painting. After the slip has dried and the paints are mixed, the decoration (palmeado) is ready to begin. With an ensemble of brushes, some of animal hair, he begins with great skill painting the designs he is so well known for. Over time, the matiz will turn a gray-tone.

Where do these three artists get their clay? Near Tonalá lie deposits of black, white and red clay with varying proportions of silica. Each artist pays a fee to extract great chunks of clay from this area. Once home, the chunks are broken up, ground into a powder and then sifted to remove impurities. Next water is added and the clay is covered in plastic and set aside to "ferment" until it is ready to use.

Feria Maestros del Arte is proud to have Salvador Vázquez Carmona, Florentino Jimón Barba and Nicasio Pajarito González attending the art show on November 10, 11 and 12. Each of these "master" artisans is featured in the book "Great Masters of Mexican Folk Art".