Florencia C.

Florencia C. works at Taller La Peña in Los Reyes Metzontla, a Popoloca community in southern Puebla. Mostly women potters there work hand-dug local clays with techniques of pre-Hispanic origin: modeling, the falso torno, burnishing, and mineral colors gathered from the hills. Pieces are fired in open kilns with brush and dry mesquite. In 2005 the potters of Metzontla received Mexico's Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes. Her work runs from burnished tableware (cups, sugar bowls, cream jugs, biznaga-textured glasses) to statement vases up to 49 cm, turned by hand and studded with small applied clay balls in red, ochre and bronze slips.