This large vessel was created by Reina Simon L. from the village of San Bartolo Coyotepec, using the traditional grey clay of this region that is gathered from the clay mines near the community. While such pottery has been created and used for water vessels, or ollas, for centuries by the Zapotec people of this region, in the 1950s potter Rosa Real Mateo de Nieto started a new … [Read more...] about Zapotec Mestizo Blackware: Researched by Daniel Hume
This group of artworks consists of tourist-trade reproductions inspired by some famous, and some not-as-famous, works of ancient Precolumbian art, including works from the Olmec, Maya, Aztec, Teotihuacano, Mixtec, and West Mexican cultures. The reproductions are generally made by artisans who are indigenous or are of Mestizo (mixed indigenous and Spanish) heritage, often … [Read more...] about Mesoamerican Art in Reproduction: Researched by Leslie Dunaway and Macaylah Gant Hodge
The southern central Mexican state of Oaxaca is the home to the Zapotec and Mixtec, indigenous cultures whose artisans have both preserved ancient traditions and have developed vibrant new artforms. Grey plumbate wares have been known since Precolumbian times, and from this ancient tradition developed a prominent form of art known as barro negro, or Oaxacan black pottery. … [Read more...] about Oaxacan Black Pottery: Researched by Emma Schupbach
As with Mesoamerican figurines, ceramic vessels were in production among Mesoamerican cultures by 2500 B.C.E. The making of ceramic vessels has continued to flourish through contemporary times, both as a craft for making utilitarian wares and as an artform for making elaborate, artistic vessels and sculptures. Traditional Mesoamerican ceramics were made using coil, slab, and … [Read more...] about Mesoamerican Ceramic Vessels: Researched by Caitlin Baker, Charles Andrew Corbett, and Logan Williams
Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures were known for recording their histories, their religious stories, their calendar, and even their tribute listings as codices, which in the Mesoamerican world took the form of screenfold books. While the Maya developed a complex system of hieroglyphic writing, other Mesoamerican cultures developed systems of recording information … [Read more...] about Codex Images of Aztec Deities: Researched by Lauren Fitzpatrick