page_title: Alfonso Castillo Orta
section_title: The artisan
hierarchical_section_title: Alfonso Castillo Orta / The artisan
caption_attribution_description: English: Display area of the home and workshop of Alfonso Castillo Orta in Izucar de Matamoros, Puebla
context_page_description: Alfonso Castillo Orta was a Mexican potter from the ceramics town of Izúcar de Matamoros, Puebla, whose work made the ceramics of this area internationally known. He was particularly known for his trees of life sculptures and received various awards for his work, including the Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes in 1996. He taught the craft to his wife and five children who continue to create pieces in his style in the family workshop.
context_section_description: Castillo Orta was born in Izúcar de Matamoros, Puebla, which has been a pottery center for many generations. It is one of two centers for ceramic sculptures called Trees of Life, along with Metepec, State of Mexico. Originally these depicted the story of Adam and Eve and were created as wedding gifts.
  Castillo Orta was a fourth generation potter, he learned to craft from his mother and grandfather, helping his mother at the family workshop when he was twelve. Along with his siblings, he began making utilitarian pieces along with candle holders and incense burners. However over his more than 40-year career, he experimented with more decorative pieces, refining his techniques to create his own unique style. He became particularly noted for his inventive trees of life, diversifying themes to include mole, other religious stories and festivals such as Day of the Dead . Castillo Orta became the center of popular art in Izúcar de Matamoros, leading the other artisans and making the town's polychromatic pottery known internationally.
  The artisan's work has been exhibited in venues in Mexico, such as the Amparo Museum and in various other countries, especially in the United States where he had exhibitions in Chicago, Dallas, New York, Washington, San Diego, Philadelphia and other cities starting in 1988, as well as Germany, Austria and Spain. His work can be found in collections of the London Museum, the Kunsthaus in Munich and the royal family of Spain along with collections in Germany, Japan, Venezuela and Italy. One of his most notable pieces is Homage to Mole, which is featured in the Grandes Maestros book of the Fomento Cultural Banamex. It is four feet high in Baroque style and dedicated to one of Mexico's signature dishes. This piece took six months.
  Castillo Orta's work received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Premio Nacional de Artesanías “Las Manos de México” of FONART in 1993 and the Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes directly from President Ernesto Zedillo in 1996. (abetran) Other awards include first place at the Consurso Diciembre en la Tradición Popular of the Secretaría de Educación Pública in 1985, first place at the Gran Premio de Arte Popular in 1992 and 1994, an honorable mention at the Candelero Traditional competition of UNESCO in Havana in 1995, and the title of “grand master” by the Fomento Cultural Banamex in 2001.
caption: View of a display area in the family home and workshop in Izucar de Matamoros
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D60", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.00", "Image DateTime": "2016:03:21 13:37:24", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "216", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "28280", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9169", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/30", "EXIF FNumber": "7/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:03:21 13:37:24", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:03:21 13:37:24", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "18/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "18", "EXIF SubSecTime": "10", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "10", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3872", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2592", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "28140", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 1, 2, 0, 1]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "27", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}