Small Jaguar with open Jaws, Chiapas Pottery

During the months of March, April and May, before rain comes to their region, Amatenango's men and women walk down the hills to collect their precious clays, each Artisan extracts between 250 to 350 sacks of clay, which then are poured into plastic bags to preserve its humidity and keep it fresh. The clay is strained using a mesh for eliminating impurities. The clay is then mildly de-hydrated to achieve the artisan's desired clay consistency. When a clay ball is ready, it is laid over a smooth stone, and the shaping process begins. The clay is molded into an inverted and flattened cone; as it keeps on spinning, the clay is morphed into shapes of Jaguars, Pots, Pitchers and other creations. Once the piece's shape is finished, it is left under the sun for it to dry. This is the process's critical point, because this is when the clay can break.

Once the pieces are finished drying under the sun, they are put on top of a dry tree branch bed, and around it, vertically-standing logs. It is then fired at 600 to 700 Degrees Celsius, enough for the clay to lose its capacity for dissolving in water. This firing technique holds a great similarity to the one ancestrally used by the Mayan People who inhabited these lands.

In the end, when the pieces are ready for being painted, Potters use different minerals for obtaining natural colors to apply on the pieces. By sanding some of their selected minerals, and pouring the powder into a concave rock for it to be mixed with water, these artisans achieve red, black and even yellow tones. They then take their brushes, and with great skill, start decorating jaguars, pots, pitchers, salad bowls, pigeons, and many other pieces with the intention of bringing their art directly to you.

Margarita Diaz Gomez

Being 43 years old, she is one of the most representative Chiapas-born Artisans, creating Jaguars that easily surpass the three-feet length among other beautiful and representative pieces.

She lives in a humble home filled with a warm and welcoming vibe to it, her doors are always open, and everyone is always well received.

Margarita started working when she was just 12 years old, crafting smaller pieces and following her parents’ tradition and teachings. It was then, when she turned 14 years old, that she started working and crafting bigger pieces, such as pigeon-shaped flower pots, and through perseverance and dedication, she crafted her first Jaguar Sculpture by age 31.

Each jaguar Margarita makes is completely hand-sculpted, no molds are used, her first references for molding the figure were mostly from pictures in magazines, and some videos from the animal, trying to replicate the figure of a living jaguar, and achieving it with incredible precision. Her works are complex, and get their start with the extraction of the clays from the clay pits, having them completely cleaned of impurities and preparing the clay with the right malleable proportion for the sculpting process followed by the decoration of the pieces.

Margarita’s preferred working spot is her front porch, she spends long hours meticulously painting her pieces there, with all care and dedication to her art. It is right there, at her porch, where she usually sets her pieces in display for sale, hoping some traveler wanders around and acquires a piece of her works

When Margarita decorates one of her bigger jaguars (usually up to 39.3”x 23.6”), she can spend up to 8 days finely painting each of the spots and beautiful details on the piece, smaller jaguars could take around 2 days to paint, and other smaller pieces could take her half a day to paint, she is a full-time artist.