Tucson Lifestyle Home & Garden Magazine-Fall 2001
Mexican Tourist Pottery
by Donna McMenamin
Photography by Amy Haskell
Do you remember that colorful glazed pottery that Aunt Mary and Uncle Bob brought back from their 1930s trip to Mexico? What happened to that large charger portraying Cargadores (porters) laden with pottery or the set of dinner plates decorated with blue burros trudging down a yellow road? Maybe your remembrance is that of a star-studded jar decorated with flora and fauna, or a profusely painted pitcher with crosshatched lines. And what about those coffee cups delightfully depicting the sleeping campesino (farmer)? Is it all packed away and buried somewhere in your garage? Well, dig out that box of pottery, because all of this and more define the vintage Mexican pottery known as Tlaquepaque Style, or more commonly, Tourist Pottery and this wonderfully artistic, oftentimes humorous earthenware is eagerly sought and displayed proudly by Mexican folk art collectors!
So just how did this collecting craze come about and what do we know about this Tourist Pottery today?