7/31/2019 Visiting Potters in Nicaragua

1/2

AUTHOR: Beverly T. Pillers

TITLE: Visiting Potters in Nicaragua

SOURCE: Ceramics Monthly 46 no6 16+ Je/Ag '98

The magazine publisher is the copyright holder of this article and it is reproduced with

permission. Further reproduction of this article in violation of the copyright is prohibited.Last year, I--along with three others from the United States and Canada--joined a group ofpotters traveling to Nicaragua with Ron Rivera of Potters for Peace (PFP). Originally organizedduring the Nicaraguan civil war to provide pottery cooperatives with technical support, PFP nowconcentrates on helping to make these potteries self-sufficient and to expand their markets.

There are many potters in Nicaragua. As they live without electricity or running water, theirlifestyle has changed little from that of their ancestors. Since the burden of putting food on thetable leaves little time for experimentation, and most are unwilling to risk a bad kiln load,techniques have not changed much over time.

We traveled with two Nica potters, Valentin Lopez and Paula Rodgriquez, who assistedRivera in translating. Our journey began in Calle Real de Tolepa, a small village wheregenerations of women have produced pottery, all making basically the same style of pots andcompeting for sales in the same marketplace.

We were there to help Emisela Rivera build a 5-foot-tall, beehive-shaped kiln from castablematerial. Emisela had been firing at a neighbor's kiln for some time and had finally saved upenough money to build one of her own. She had hired a local man to build the framework, whichwas then covered with straw. Stomping with our feet, we mixed a slurry (from clay mined from anearby mountain and horse manure). It took a day to mix and then apply several coats of thisslurry over the straw. Holes were left for burner ports, and the exterior was reinforced by placinglarge pottery shards on top. We planned to come back a week later to see if the kiln was dryenough to check the draft with a test fire.

We then traveled to Condega, about 1 1/2 hours from the Honduran border, to visit theDucuale Women's Cooperative. The facility consists of a throwing area with four wheels, ahandbuilding board, drying room and display area, and is built around a courtyard that includesthe kiln and clay-processing area. They are fortunate to have a small building in which to storetheir freshly dug clay, unlike most Nicaraguan potters who must leave their clay in the open,which causes its own set of problems during the rainy season.

Dug nearby, the clay is dried, then broken up and slaked in a small brick trough. After a dayor two, it is sieved to remove debris, then dried on bricks in the courtyard. When the clay isnearly dry enough for use, it is brought inside and slapped against the brick wall to pull out alittle more water until it is just right for throwing or handbuilding.

After introductions were made, one of the local potters demonstrated handbuilding a 12-inchround vessel, using only a corn cob, a piece of gourd and a table knife as tools. She began witha thick, round tortilla-shaped slab that was draped inside an old pot shard. She then attached alarge coil, pinching with her fingers. As she added more coils, she thinned the wall with pressurefrom her hand and the corn cob.

She was incredibly fast, and worked sequentially on several vessels, setting each aside tostiffen while going back to complete another. After slowly necking in the opening at the top, shewould tear the rim perfectly straight with her fingers, then smooth it with a piece of wet cloth.The completed pots appeared perfectly symmetrical and could easily be mistaken for wheel-thrown.

When the shaping was finished, she applied tawe (terra sigillata made from a local clay andiron oxide), and put the pot aside to slowly dry until it was strong enough to burnish. A group ofwomen and young girls spent their days burnishing the pieces produced by the five or sixwomen who form the pots. (Young girls start their training by burnishing at the age of nine or

7/31/2019 Visiting Potters in Nicaragua

2/2

ten, and will probably make pottery into their seventies and beyond.) The burnishers workedsteadily, using smooth river-worn stones handed down through generations, chatting quietlywhile small children ran around.

After the demonstration, we went to work ourselves. Most of us had to make a big adjustmentto the working conditions, using unfamiliar kick wheels, and continuously reaching for tools thatweren't there. The workshop, like most we saw, had no electricity; the small amount of daylight

that crept in under the extended roof made it impossible to see inside the pot we were making,limiting us strictly to touch. Soon we were busy making our pots and trying theirs, attempting tocommunicate in two different languages when our translator wasn't around. I learned thatlaughter is universal, though, when I sat at a kick wheel that was too short for me, and my legswouldn't fit in the kick space. At the end of the day, we covered our wares with terra sigillata andlined them up to dry.

The burnished were was low fired, then decorated with a simple slip that would act as a resistduring the smoking process. They were placed in a small kiln along with wood and dried coffeehusks, and smoked for about 20 minutes until chocolate brown. After they had been pulled fromthe kiln and cooled, we washed off the dried slip. The result was two-toned ware with reducedchocolate-brown backgrounds and oxidized bright orange designs where the slip had been.

While we were there, the women were given the news that they had just received an order

from Pier 1 Imports in the United States for 18,000 pieces. They immediately began to considerways of drying clay faster during the rainy season to meet the store's deadline. Since arrivinghome, I have heard from Rivera that, in order to fill this order, the cooperative doubled the sizeof its workspace and now employs 37 people. The impact of this one order will change the livesof many Nicaraguan families, perhaps allowing their children to go to school, provide healthcare, or even make it possible to install electricity in their homes.

Over the next two weeks, we bumped over remote country roads and forded a bridgelessstream in a small pickup truck, visiting potteries around the country. After hiking up amountainside, we spent one day working alongside the women of Loma Ponda in theirworkshop. They had a kick wheel--which is just being introduced in the countryside--that wasbrought in on the back of a donkey. A high point of our stay there was hiking to see anundocumented ancient petroglyph on an isolated mountainside. We quickly decided to leave our

mark by appropriating the petroglyph's design for a mural on the kiln when we returned to CalleReal de Tolapa.

On our final day out in the country, we gathered along with many of the potters we had metover the last two weeks for a multicultural festival at the Art and History Museum in Condega.We demonstrated throwing techniques, decorating and raku firing. Many potters brought theirwork into town in large baskets balanced on their heads to sell at the festival.

The trip has given me a fresh perspective on pottery from the view of these courageous anddignified people--wonderful artists who allowed us a glimpse into their lives.

Added materialADDED MATERIALOval serving dish, 12 inches in length, handbuilt from local clay, with terra sigillata, burnished,fired to earthenware temperature, by members of the Ducuale Women's Cooperative inCondega, Nicaragua.