Some of the finest ceramic folk art in Mexico comes from the state of Michoácan. Feria Maestros del Arte Coordinator, Marianne Carlson, travels to all corners looking for the best folk art México has to offer. Finding the "best" is not always an easy task. And so it was with the pottery of Cocucho, a remote Purépecha Indian village in the state of Michoácan. Tourist offices and guidebooks had no information on this pottery and it was some time before Marianne happened upon information where this pottery is made. (The pot by Margarita Martínez Santo shown in the photos above won First Prize at Artesanias Michoácan 2008. )

Cocuchas are distinctive and easily recognizable giants next to other pottery, some Cochuchas can reach 150 cm tall. Made entirely by hand, the artist does not rely on a pottery wheel or mold. The handcrafted size, shape and surface of each piece is totally controlled by the hand and eye of the artist.

A form is used, such as the bottom of a pail. The walls of the pot are quickly built up from the bottom of the pail. Next a corncob is used to smooth out the clay. Smaller coils are added until the desired size of the base of the pot is achieved. Then the pot is put aside to sit until it is leather hard. Now the pot can be turned over and the walls and lip of the pot are formed from where the form/pail had been.

The real "art" of making the Cocuchas is to know when they are ready to be taken from the fire. If they are not removed at precisely the right time, the pot will crack. Each pot is individually fired. The embers are still smoking when the pot is placed on them. A tent is made over the pot of burning wood. It takes about an hour for a pot is ready although larger pots can take up to three or four hours.

Long sticks are used to brush away the firewood and then the pot is lifted away from the coals.

There are two colors of Cocuchas, negras (blacks-photo to the left) and rojas (reds-photo to the right). The negra color is achieved by splashing a cornmeal solution immediately after firing, while the pot is still very hot. Using a brush, the mixture of corn and water is thrown all over the hot pot leaving the characteristic black markings.

The red Cocuchas are coated with a red clay slip (cinnabar) before firing. There are no other glazes or coloring agents.

Cocucho was once a very poor village with no work. A priest brought clay from a neighboring village, and one of the women began making small pots. Now almost everyone in the village makes pots using clay imported from San Jose de Gracia. They are truly one of Mexico's most enduring and unique forms of indigenous folkart.

Pictured here is Salvador Santos, master craftsman, with a cocucha gigante (giant) that won first place at the 2010 Premio Nacional de Ceramica in Tlaquepaque, Jalisco - the largest ceramic show in Mexico.

To watch a video about Cocucho artists at Feria Maestros del Arte, just click here.

Contact information:
Cocuchas.com

Or contact Marianne Carlson at 01152 376 765 7485 or email mariannecarlson@gmail.com

(Our thanks to Karen Henderson for the use of her photographs.)