Artist Marta Gonzalez
Width - 4 inches
Height - 3.5 inches
Length - 6.75 inches
Weight - 15 ounces
Artist Marta Gonzalez is the potter who has created this lovely tortoise. Fully handmade, the animal exudes a gentle personality. There is a mouth, warm eyes, and diminutive feet (for a tortoise!). His shell is highly polished and decorated with ancient designs from Ms. Gonzalez ancestors one thousand years in the past. The Artist has even included nostrils and toes and a tail, and she has given the guy a little companion riding piggy-back. Created from white clay dug from the surrounding foothills of the village, it serves as a canvas for the mineral glazes Ms. Gonzalez has created. For Mata Ortiz animal effigies, this one is in a class of its own.
Ms. Gonzalez signs her artwork.