Eric Mindling, a self-defined potterologist has explored Oaxaca and its 70 plus pottery villages for more than twenty years. This experience has become Fire and Clay – The Art of Oaxacan Pottery, a panoramic vision of the past, present and future of Oaxacan pottery.
This book is an homage to the wisdom of potters and a journey into the depths of the ancient trade of pottery. Through beautiful imagery and delightful prose, the book explains the wisdom of artisanal design and pottery's important economical, social and identity-based roles.
The book approaches pottery from a design perspective, touching on themes such as diversity in form, social contexts, functionality, techniques and the challenges presented by modern times, providing us with the tools to understand pottery and potters in all their complexity.
With a prologue by master ceramic artist, Gustavo Pérez, and photos by Paris Barrera. For explorers, there is a detailed guide to visit the 70 pottery villages presented in the book, with maps and directions.
Published following the eponymous exhibition at Centre culturel d'Andenne, Belgium, from July to August 2015.
Eric Mindling has lived in Southern Mexico and worked closely with hundreds of rural artisans since 1992 when he landed a job, fresh out of college, as a pottery buying agent for Jackalope Pottery in New Mexico. His job was to travel the backroads of Oaxaca, find interesting pottery and ship it to the store. Through years of travelling down remote roads to small villages in search of yet another lost pottery village Eric learned his way through the wilds of backcactus Mexico. Eric is a member of the creative platform “Innovando la Tradicion”. He is currently (2015) working on a first of its kind photo documentary of traditional fashion in the indigenous villages of Oaxaca.
Edited by Diego Mier y Terán.
Text by Eric Mindling; foreword by Gustavo Pérez.
Photography by Paris Barrera.
Graphic design: Diego Mier y Terán.
published in September 2015
English edition
20 x 24 cm (softcover)
232 pages (color ill.)
ISBN : 978-3-943514-36-0
EAN : 9783943514360
sold out
