page_title: Santa María Atzompa
section_title: Green glazed pottery of Atzompa
hierarchical_section_title: Santa María Atzompa / Green glazed pottery of Atzompa
caption_attribution_description: English: Green glazed pieces by Guadalupe Aguilar Guerrero of Santa Maria Atzompa, Oaxaca, Mexico
context_page_description: Santa María Atzompa is a town and municipality located in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, about five km from the state capital of Oaxaca.
  It is part of the Centro District in the Valles Centrales region. The town was founded between the 7th and 9th centuries as a satellite of the ancient Zapotec city of Monte Albán. Since its founding, pottery making has been a major economic activity and the town is currently known for its green-glazed pottery. This pottery used to be shipped all over Mexico and exported to the United States but today most of this pottery is sold locally. Beginning in 2009, there has been excavation at the Atzompa archeological site, leading to the discovery of a 45-meter Mesoamerican ball court, which has been determined to have been on the principal one for Monte Alban. Today, the town is rustic with the smoke of wood-fired pottery kilns ever present. Poverty has been a concern for the town, but innovations such as the use of lead-free glazing and a communal crafts market have been implemented to improve the craft's prospects.
context_section_description: About 90% of the people in the town proper are dedicated to making pottery, making it the basis of the town's economy. Most of this pottery is created for kitchen use such as for cooking, baking and serving. The clay is mined from an area called San Lorenzo Cacautepec, four km from the town center. It is still carried by burro along paths used by the town's grandfathers. After the clay arrives at the workshop, the men break and work to make the clay uniform, mixing it and adding water. All members of the family, including the children work. The potter's wheels are operated by foot, and date back to the pre-Hispanic era. After a piece is molded, it is set aside for eight days before firing. The color and shine is due to the glazing process, which was introduced in the 16th century by cleric Alonso Figueroa and has remained mostly unchanged since then. The first firing with without the glaze, with the pieces emerging in their natural color and can be used in this form. However, very few pieces of this type will sell and sell at a low price. While the glaze is not inexpensive, it has become necessary to make the pottery acceptable to the market. The second firing to harden and adhere the glaze.
  The green color and shine of the pottery is a result of a lead monoxide glaze, which can leach into the foods that the pottery holds. The local people here have been warned of the dangers of the continuous use of the lead pottery but the warnings are unheeded.  Studies have shown that people in potters' communities such as Atompa, where lead glaze is used have unusually high levels of the substance in their blood. The exposure comes not only from the making of the pottery, but the use of it to simmer sauces and stews. With time and repeated use, the lead leaches from the glaze into the food. In the 1990s, the Mexican government devised a glaze for pottery which is lead free as a response to lead poisoning problems in the country. A 1995 study showed that 44% of children under five years of age in working-class families had high levels of lead in their bloodstreams. Much of the push towards lead-free pottery has been due to economics rather than health when the U.S. restricted imports of Mexican pottery due to lead concerns. Making pottery is a matter of culture and survival for Atzompa and many other poor communities in Mexico.
  While almost all of Atzompa's pottery is of the traditional green-glazed variety, since the 1980s, a potter by the name of Dolores Porras has created the first glazed natural color and multicolored glazed pottery. Porras developed a white translucent glaze on which to paint colors such as bright oranges, blues, greens and yellows. Each of her pieces are done by hand and are decorated with figures such as borders, mermaids, flowers and iguanas. She has been invited to give workshops in the United States, where she learned about lead-free glazes and has applied these to her work. She has not been able to work for the last years due to Parkinson's disease and diminished sight. She remains poor and dependent on her family for support. In 2010, a ceremony to honor her innovative work was organized by the Arden Rothstein of the Friends of Oaxacan Folk Art Association.
caption: Green glazed ware by the late Guadalupe Aguilar Guerrero
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