"Mata Ortiz Pottery in the Casas Grandes Tradition" in the Rose Lehrman Art Gallery at HACC
Dec. 14, 2010
HARRISBURG – The next exhibit at the Rose Lehrman Art Gallery at HACC-Harrisburg Campus, “Mata Ortiz Pottery in the Casas Grandes Tradition,” Jan. 12-Feb. 4, offers a collection of pottery from the Mexican village of Mata Ortiz.
The pieces are from the collection of Carl and Holly Socolow of Camp Hill. Photographs of the Mata Ortiz by Carol Socolow will be on display with the pottery.
Two events complement the exhibit on Thursday, Jan. 20, at the campus at One HACC Drive:
· Jerardo Tena, one of the potters of Mata Ortiz presents a free demonstration 2-4 p.m. in the Rose Lehrman Arts Center room 126A. Tena is HACC’s artist-in-residence from Jan. 18-22, working with HACC faculty in the art department and sharing his expertise with students.
· Carl Socolow and Tena will discuss the culture of Mata Ortiz and pottery making at a lecture from 5:30-6:30 p.m. in Whitaker Hall room 214. The lecture will touch on the impact of how the discovery and development of the pottery has taken what was a drastically poor village and improved it with better surrounding roads and higher income for its residents. A reception follows from 6:30-7:30 p.m. in the Gallery.
In 2006 Socolow received a Guggenheim Fellowship to continue and extend his photographic work on “Scenes from Civic Life” in Mata Ortiz, near the northern city of Nuevo Casas Grandes. During their visits, the Socolows began to collect pottery made in the village.
“With no more than 3,000 people in the village, more than 400 potters are engaged in the practice and development of what is now recognized worldwide as a high art form,” said Carl Socolow.
The collection has the distinctive browns, reds and blacks of polychrome pottery, with intricate and precise linear and geometric decorations. The designs, originally inspired by ancient pottery shards, have now become innovative and some are contemporary.
The exhibit and events are supported by the HACC Alumni Association and the Center for Global Education. The Rose Lehrman Art Gallery receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
Gallery hours are 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday, 5-7 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, or by appointment. For more information, call 717-780-2435 or e-mail Kim Banister, gallery curator, at kebanist@hacc.edu. Visit the gallery online: www.hacc.edu under the Rose Lehrman Arts Center and at www.facebook.com/RoseLehrmanArtGallery.
![Gallery - "Mata Ortiz Pottery in the Casas Grandes Tradition" photo 1](/newsroom/2010/images/MataOrtizArmandoMora_519533_480w.webp "Gallery - "Mata Ortiz Pottery in the Casas Grandes Tradition" photo 1")
