Hi everyone,

Today, here's a Fem Fri that I've been promising myself I'd write for ages – it's about Oaxacan ceramics! I found a book in a library about this traditionally female art form, and liked it so much I took loads of pictures to share with you. They're beautiful because they combine being really stylised with being really familiar – look at these works by Angelica Vasquez:

Country Girl

Classy Lady

Interesting story about Angelica Vasquez. She had been making ceramics for a while, but it was only after her husband left her that she found out that her father-in-law had been signing his name to her pieces and selling them at a considerable profit to him. After she started selling her own pieces, he used his (again, the father-in-law's) influence to make sure that none of the galleries or shops would talk to her or take her pieces. After a few years of taking in washing and working 12 hour days in a department store, she had enough money to move out of her father-in-law's house and is now an internationally recognised ceramics artist:

She is the recipient of the prestigious Mexican National Arts and Sciences Award in the “Arts and Traditions” category in 2009, which is Mexico’s highest honor for artists. It was presented to her by the former President of Mexico, Felipe Calderón, at the Presidential residence of Los Piños.

https://www.elinterior.com/2013/11/23/angelica-vasquez-cruz-master-potter-from-oaxaca/

PHEW.

And now onto the Aguilars, the founding family of Oaxacan ceramics:

The Aguilar family of Ocotlán de Morelos are from a rural town in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. This town produced only utilitarian items until Isaura Alcantara Diaz began creating decorative figures with her husband Jesus Aguila Revilla. The couple taught their five daughters who continued innovating their own styles and then teaching the two generations after them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aguilar_family_(Oaxacan_potters)

Extremely real and familiar is this little Noah's Ark scene by Conception Aguilar:

Noah's Ark

I love this. Look at Mrs Noah. "I know, sweetheart, I don't like that it's still raining either. No, I don't know why G-d hasn't told you when it's going to stop. Yes, I'm quite sure we have enough supplies for however long it takes. You've done a great job. You are doing a great job! Tell you what, there's still tea in the pot if you fancy it?"

Guillermina Aguilar's much bigger figures are a bit disconcerting. Like something from a slightly other world has found its way into ours:

Carrying Water

Finally, Josefina Aguilar's crying people going about their lives are lovely. Especially the mother and child on the Day of the Dead:

Day of the Dead

Funeral Procession

I hope you like these as much as I do. Here's the book for more info, if you did!

Love,

Alex.