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Southwestern Native American Pottery

Southwestern Native American Pottery

Southwestern Native American PotteryTarahumara pots or ollas are used for a variety of cooking purposes. An olla may be used to cook beans, boil corn with lime for making tortillas, roasting corn for pinole, and in the larger pots, for making the Tarahumara traditional corn beer, tesguino. Slightly different sizes and shapes define the use of a particular pot. Tarahumara pottery, as with virtually everything they make, is simple and functional.

The first step in pottery making is to gather the clay. This may require a trip of several miles. Once the clay has been obtained, it is ground on a stone metate and mixed with pottery shards that have also been ground on the metate. Water is then added to this mixture and it is kneaded until the right consistency is achieved.

Then it is time to begin forming the piece. The base is formed first and the sides are built up using coils of clay. The olla is always shaped by hand, although a piece of gourd may be used to smooth and scrape away roughness. After drying in the sun, a hot fire is made in a shallow pit and the pot is fired. When a pot is decorated, the paint is obtained from red ochre, iron oxide or hematite and applied with the fingers or by means of a feather or cloth-wrapped stick.

Aug 27th 2015 Mission Del Rey

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