Mixed Media Wildlife Mata Ortiz Pottery:
 Width   - 9 inches
 Height  - 11.25 inches
 Weight - 3 pounds 14 ounces

 Ms. Paty Ortiz pottery is supremely popular. She is one of the few masters of mixed media clay. Ms. Ortiz works in two different types of clay. By hand, she merges this lighter and darker beige to brown material, creating patterns and swirls, just as if we were hovering over a gas giant planet such as Jupiter, or looking into cream mixing in coffee. Why this is particularly impressive is these two clay types harden at different temperatures within the wood burning ovens. Successfully firing one type without damaging the other is nearly impossible. Yet this master artist has perfected the skill needed to achieve this.
 Ms. Ortiz also covers the entire piece with designs and shapes which originated with her ancestors a thousand years ago. The Paquimé culture and its designs are well established. The neck is a striking square shape contrasting with the roundness of the pottery. The neck is encircled with repeating feather-like shapes and leaning rectangles. The checkerboard design is hand painted using only homemade brushes of human hair. There is a pair of weird, skinny birds fighting over a tortoise. There is a ring of dancing hares encircling a pair of back-to-back parrots. There is also a pair of lizards following each other, directly across from a rising sun. The imagery is immense and intense. The traditional designs are merged with her contemporary perspectives and design skills. And this conjuring is the result, a one-of-a-kind marvel from the world of Chihuahua folk art.
 Ms. Ortiz signs her Mixed Media Wildlife Mata Ortiz Pottery.
 A pottery ring is included.

Mata Ortiz is not made to hold liquids!

 Mata Ortiz is legendary, both the village and the pottery taking it's name, and I am proud to be the largest and most trusted seller of these works on eBay!

 In the 70's a young man began experimenting with recreating ancient pottery he would come across. He used the same clay sand mixtures from materials found in the area in which the ancients lived and made their pottery. The same firing techniques using the same local materials eventually created the same magnificent results. Half a century later and much of the village of Mata Ortiz has taken on these incredible skills for creating masterpieces, with each artist contributing hers and his own sense of beauty.

 The designs are bold, earthy and individualistic.

 Paint brushes consisting of one or two human hairs create the finest lines. Paints are developed from minerals found in the surrounding desert. These creations are truly unique transformations that only this small little region of the world can create from it's own soil. 

 I have been tangentially around Mata Ortiz for 30 years. Now I am spiritually bound by their overwhelming beauty and intense and intricate designs. When I look at one of the pieces, I feel I am meeting in person the artist who created this, and am visiting her home.