Keeping Tradition Alive

Magdalena Pedro Martinez: Oaxacan Ceramics, Oaxaca, Mexico

A practicing physician by profession and a ceramacist by training and inclination, Dr. Magdalena Martinez creates ceramic figurines of female figures, most dressed in the traditional costumes of Oaxaca. Using extensive research, Dr. Martinez immortalizes clothing traditions that were in danger of being lost to time and memory.

Her particular favorite is the elaborate traje or costume of the Tuxtupec region of Oaxaca, flamboyant with colored fabric and ribbons. Dr. Martinez’s own work was
strongly influenced by her family roots. Her father was a well-known regional ceramist and it was one of his pieces, showing a woman in native costuming, that first sparked her interest in the form. At the time, Dr. Martinez’s grandmother was still alive and the young Magdalena peppered her with questions about the native dress of her youth. Today, few records of those traditional costumes survive—except in Dr. Martinez’s distinctive, graceful figurines.

The Art

Each figurine begins with a face, which Dr. Martinez sculpts from local clay. Then she creates the torso, the scaffolding for the all-important costume, by flattening a length of clay like a tortilla and folding and forming it into a body shape. A traditional skirt and blouse, accurate in every detail, are pressed onto the torso, with the arms, legs, and adornments such as a pineapple or a shawl, added last. Every piece must dry for several hours before being added to the figure.

The entire work then dries for as much as four days. Only then can Dr. Martinez brush on the quartz that gives her ceramics their distinctive shine. Finally, the works are fired, creating a lasting monument to the women of Oaxaca and their almost-lost sense of style and joy.