Ceramics of Jalisco, Mexico has a history that extends far back in the pre Hispanic period, but modern production is the result of techniques introduced by the Spanish during the colonial period and the introduction of high-fire production in the 1950s and 1960s by Jorge Wilmot and Ken Edwards. Today various types of traditional ceramics such as bruñido, canelo and petatillo are still made, along with high fire types like stoneware, with traditional and nontraditional decorative motifs. The two main ceramics centers are Tlaquepaque and Tonalá, with a wide variety of products such as cookware, plates, bowls, piggy banks and many types of figures.
History
The making of ceramics in Jalisco extends far back into the pre Hispanic era. Early ceramics in the area were rough and utilitarian, for such purposes as cooking, carrying water or storing seeds. Some of these were multicolored, but the decorated faded because the pieces were not fired after painting.
The Spanish introduced European techniques to the area, especially the potter's wheel to make more symmetrical containers and glazing to keep color and give a bright finish. Spanish introduced ceramics were slowly adopted by the indigenous population in most of New Spain but in Jalisco, their adoption was relatively quick. Demand was high, spurring a developed ceramics industry in the Guadalajara area. The ceramics industry was established by monks who not only evangelized the indigenous, they also taught them trades, such as European style pottery. The training allowed for indigenous traditions, such as burnishing to be combined with the use of high quality clay slips. It also allowed for a decorating styles influenced by European, indigenous and Oriental motifs. The Tonalá tradition became known as "Tonalá ware" "Polished ornamental ware" or "Guadalajara polychrome." A number of these pieces were exported Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, mostly to Spain but examples reached Italy and other areas. However, in the later colonial period ceramics waned in Tlaquepaque, coming back in the 19th century with jars and Nativity scenes. One item which seems luxurious today, but was probably relatively ordinary in colonial period was large ceramic bathtubs, which were richly decorated inside and out with images such as Saint James on horseback, the patron saint of the locality, double headed eagles and other motif surrounded by vegetative images, flowers, thick and thin lines and more.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Jorge Wilmot and Ken Edwards introduced more modern high-fire ceramics to the Guadalajara area, starting in Tonalá. These are wares fired at over 1000C which vitrifies the clay and eliminates the need for lead-based glazes. Wilmot mostly kept local traditional designs although some Oriental influence is mixed in as well, along with Asian glazing processes. Edwards introduced new designs with the techniques.
Today, Jalisco's ceramics stand out for their variety, unique decoration and various style noted for their quality, well known nationally and internationally. Jalisco has a particularly strong ceramics tradition in Mexico, not only for its variety but as part of the culture. Barro bruñido is recognized as part of the state and international as distinctively Mexican. Starting in the 1990s, the wholesale market for ceramics waned because of the overvalued peso and markets opening to cheaper Asian ceramics, especially from China. The economic changes of the past decades have put pressure on Jalisco's ceramic industry as it competes with Asian imports. To help Jalisco potters stay competitive, the Museo Regional de la Cerámica has added a design center to help train local artisans in new designs and techniques.
Most workshops and other producers in the state are still small, with only a few formal enough to undertake export. Most artisans in the state are part of the "informal economy" without formal government registration, making census of the industry difficult. However, it is estimated that handcrafts in general, which ceramics is the most important, generates about 80,000 jobs in the state. Some artisans have moved into specialty markets such as Artesanias Erandi, selling lead-free, hand painted glazed ceramics, popular with US buyers for its rustic and ethnic look. It is high fire but maintains traditional designs.
Traditional ceramic styles
A wide variety of traditional low-fire and some high fire ceramics are made in Jalisco, ranging from cheap objects to artistic productions. The two main pottery producing municipalities are Tonalá and Tlaquepaque.Hopkins and Muller 99 Traditional ceramics styles include "bruñido", "bandera", "canelo", "petate" and "betus". The best known of these styles is bruñido, which translates to burnished. It probably descends from polychrome produced in this area en the 19th century. The name comes from the fact that these pieces are not glazed, but rather they are given a slip and then polished with a stone or pyrite. Many of these pieces are slender necked jugs or lamp bases, often decorated with animals, such as rabbits, with distorted characteristics, giving them a surreal look. The pieces are usually painted with delicate tones of rose, gray-blue and white on a background of a light coffee color, light gray and sometimes green or blue. Each piece is individually created. The attraction of this pottery is its appearance, as it is too porous to hold any liquid or food. One exception to this are thick large tubs mainly to store water or for bathing. Water stored in this kind of vessel takes on a flavor from the clay, which is actually desired by many people. Another exception is a water container with a fat body and long neck, with a ceramic cup placed upside down over the neck. These are called botellones or carafes. One town that specializes in these is El Rosario, near Tonalá.Hopkins and Muller 100–102 One variant of bruñido is black, which is often made into jars, flower vases, platters and skulls for Day of the Dead .
Canelo is a type of bruñido is named for the color the fired clay turns out, which is various shades of cinnamon (canela in Spanish). It is burnished with lard and painted with ochre and brown tones. The decorative lines are generally horizontal with different thicknesses and tone with other stylized objects such as leaves, waves and more added. It is popular and used mainly for water jugs because it is good for keeping liquid cool. It is also used to make cooking pots and dry storage containers.
Bandera, which means "flag" in Spanish, is so named because it has the green-red-and-white colors of the Mexican flag. Like, bruñido, it is also an unglazed burnished ware. For unknown reasons, this style of pottery is very rare.Hopkins and Muller 101 The base of this pottery is a red burnished slip which serves as a background for floral decorated painted on. The designs are outlined by a green derived from copper and then filled in with a kaolin white. It is not a common type of pottery but most of what is produced is of high quality, often in Roman style storage jars and water storage containers with a long neck.
Petate or petalillo pottery is distinguished by having a light yellow background filled with crosshatching, which looks like a woven palm mat, called a petate. According to José Bernabé, barro petate began when two potters by the name of Magdaleno Goldívar and José Cervantes began to fill the background with a fine crosshatching. The Bernabé family started experimenting with this decorative style around 1840. The decorative style require very fine white clay in order to create a very smooth painting surface. The main design over the crosshatching is usually painted in black and occasionally in green. These include images of plants and animals, especially deer, rabbits, eagles, roosters and swans.Hopkins and Muller 98–99 The tighter the crosshatching is, the finer the piece. This type of pottery is used to make mugs for hot chocolate, platters, large bowls and some animal and human figures. This ware is painted before firing at 900C for five or six hours, glazed, and then fired again. The resulting ceramic resists temperatures of up to 3000C. The work involved in the decoration makes this one of the more expensive types of Mexican ceramic, and for this reason, it is most commonly seen on large, relatively flat platters. A giant urn in this style can take up to three years to complete.Hopkins and Muller 98–99 The two most famous masters of this type of pottery were Pedro Chávez and José Bernabé, but their families continue to make it.
Betus pottery is characterized by vibrant colors that give the ceramics a whimsical look. This style derives its name from the betus oil the clayware is immersed in before it is fired. The oil, which is made of a resin extracted from pine trees, gives the painted pottery a brilliant sheen.
One uncommon ware is called engregado. These objects have a special varnish that make them useful for cooking, the varnish acting like a coating of Teflon that prevents food from slicking when heated.
High fire
Jalisco's high-fire ware is of the best produced in the country. High fire ceramics, including stoneware, were introduced to Jalisco by Jorge Wilmot and Ken Edwards in 1950s and 1960s, making Tonalá the first and primary production of this type of ceramic in Mexico. This production is considered between industrial and traditional handcrafted ceramic. These are fired at over 1,100 °C, causing the clay to vitrify and form a nonporous surface. The main difference between the Wilmot and Edwards styles is that Wilmot maintained the area's traditional decorative styles, focusing on images of suns, birds, eagles, lions and flowers. He also founded a new school of ceramic production which remains to this day, using a traditional green-gray background with images made of small dots, often of double headed eagles, lions and multicolored suns. Edwards' ceramics have a blue-gray background and delicate decorations with Oriental influence. Workshops from both traditions create elaborate bowls, jars, flower vases, and decorative pieces such as fish figures from miniatures to those measuring fifty centimeters.
Wilmot created the Premio Nacional de la Cerámica in 1977 with two categories, traditional and contemporary ceramics. In the last twenty years, new categories have been added. In 1997, a museum dedicated to prize winners was inaugurated as the Museo del Premio Nacional de la Cerámica Pantaleón Panduro, named after a famous artisan. The museum not only displays winning pieces, it also shows the success that Jalisco potters have had in Europe and other places in the world.
Major high fire ceramics workshops today include Netzi, whose bowls has a gray enamel in the inside, with the exteriors finished with a textured yellow, similar to cork, earning it the name of "corcho." The workshop of Noé Suro makes decorative spheres in cobalt blue in a modern style. Stoneware is produced by El Palomar and some other factories in Tlaquepaque. Another high-fire ware is of the white kaolin type by factories such as Loza Fina and Cerámica Contemporánea Suro. The last is a family run operation that caters to chefs, designers, architects, and artists. The workshop primarily make dishes in all shapes and sizes, but items such as lamps and decorative pieces as well. The pieces are generally made to order based on designs preapproved by the client. Orders range in size for a setting for four to the entire dish set for restaurants. Many of their clients buy wares in bulk although there is no minimum.
Tonalá