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1954
A hacienda house on a pedestrian street became a museum of Jalisco crafts
The museum was founded in 1954 by the Instituto Nacional Indigenista and the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, to preserve and promote indigenous arts, above all ceramics. It sits in the main house of a colonial-era hacienda on Independencia Street in the center of Tlaquepaque. The house was built in the 19th century and is now a historic monument. A large courtyard inside has fifteen stands where vendors sell handcrafts.
Barro bruñido
The best known pots of Tonalá are polished with a stone and cannot hold water
Barro bruñido pieces from Tonalá are not glazed. They are given a slip and then polished with a stone or pyrite. The pottery is too porous to hold any liquid or food, so its attraction is its appearance. Many are slender necked jugs or lamp bases, often decorated with animals such as rabbits, drawn with distorted features that give them a surreal look.
Betus
Betus pottery gets its shine from an oil made of pine resin
The betus collection comes from the community of Santa Cruz de las Huertas. The pottery has a bone colored crystalline finish, comparable to Japanese ceramics, and bright colors. Its name comes from the betus oil the clayware is immersed in before it is fired. The oil is made of a resin extracted from pine trees and gives the painted pottery its sheen. The main crafter on display is Candelario Medrano.
Petatillo
Petatillo is drawn like a straw mat, and a giant urn can take three years
One room is given to petatillo pottery, including some of the first pieces in this style ever made. The tightly drawn lines or crosshatching on a red background are named after petates, the straw mats they resemble. Over the lines are drawn plants and animals such as deer, rabbits, eagles, roosters and swans. The ware is painted before firing, glazed, and then fired again, and a giant urn can take up to three years to complete.
Small figures
Tiny figures show an ice cream seller, a flower seller and a charcoal maker
Several rooms hold toys, masks and ceramic figures. The miniature figures by Ángel Carranza show everyday people: El Nevero de Garrafa, the ice cream seller, El Vendedor de Flores, the flower seller, and El Carbonero, the charcoal maker. There is also a rare set by Honorato Panduro showing how pottery is made, from the extraction of clay to kneading, shaping and firing.
Day 2, midday
It comes after Tlaquepaque. Then Tonalá.
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The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Museo Regional de la Ceramica, Tlaquepaque, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.