Catalina Cuiriz

Mexico

Year(s) attended: 2008, 2009, 2010

Supported by Barro sin Plomo Lead Free Alliance

Lead Free Ceramic Pottery

Catalina Cuiriz, her husband and three children, create the Tzintzuntzan green glazed pottery renowned in the lake district of her native Michoacan in Mexico.

Living in an area of lakes and natural beauty, the Cuiriz family creates the carefully rimmed green leaf dishes in many sizes as well as oval dishes decorated with swans, deer and other natural objects.  Her husband collects the clay from a community mine and grinds it himself. They fire the objects in an open kiln. The result is a mixture of the indigenous Purepecha culture and Spanish techniques.