Archive for the tag 'laquer paints'

Purepecha Indian Pottery from Huancito, Michoacan

Kevin June 26th, 2010

The Purepecha indians from Huancito, Michoacan have for centuries made off of their utilitarian cooking pots by digging the clay from the local river beds.  Over the last 25years however several families in Huancito have taken it upon themselves to rescue their ancient tecniques of making laquer paints from the natural clay pigments.  Red, black, brown, and white are natural colors that the woman extract from the clay by working it on a metate.  The pots are hand formed and the colors are barnished onto the pots, painted and fired.

The origins of the Purepecha is just one of the many mysteries surrounding this ancient tribe.  Linguistically they have no relatives, but have been very successful in maintaining their dialect; today most kids are sent to school to learn Spanish as it is not spoken in the home.  The Aztec called the Purepecha humming birds, it is still a recurring theme in their folk art today.