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Community Corner

"The Renaissance of Mata Ortiz" movie screening

“The Renaissance of Mata Ortiz,” the Emmy® winning story of how an American adventurer and a brilliant Mexican artist transformed a dying desert village into a home for world-class art, will screen at the Bowers Museum on Saturday, October 19, 2013.

Producer/Director Scott Petersen will conduct a Q&A after the movie. Pottery and jewelry from the village will be available for purchase from Modern Mata Ortiz, DeSilva Imports, and Mata Ortiz to You. Zapotec weaver Porfirio Gutierrez will be demonstrating his craft. This screening is part of the Bowers’ Mexican Artisan Traditions weekend, which features pottery and jewelry from Mata Ortiz, wood carvings from Oaxaca and Zapotec rugs.  Renowned Mata Ortiz potter Diego Valles will also give a talk on Friday, October 20.

When Spencer MacCallum walked into a second-hand store in Deming, New Mexico, in 1976 and bought three pieces of pottery, he had no idea that he was about to embark on a journey that would help lead to the revival of an ancient art form and change thousands of lives. “The Renaissance of Mata Ortiz” is an inspirational story of an artist who overcame extraordinary poverty to become recognized worldwide for his incredible creativity and ingenuity.

“The Renaissance of Mata Ortiz” reveals how anthropologist Spencer MacCallum encouraged the self-taught budding master Juan Quezada to further innovate on the traditional designs of Paquimé ceramics, leading to the phenomenal and award-winning post-modern styles of younger artist Diego Valles.

To see a trailer from “The Renaissance of Mata Ortiz”:
http://www.helpfundmymovie.com/page10/trailer.html

About “The Renaissance of Mata Ortiz”
Directed by award-winning filmmaker Scott Petersen and recently broadcast on numerous PBS stations, “The Renaissance of Mata Ortiz” is an official selection of the Sedona Int’l Film Festival (Best Arts Film), the Durango Independent Film Festival, DOCUTAH Film Festival (Best Editing) and the Cine Las Americas Film Festival. It has also screened at the University of Southern California, the San Diego Museum of Man, Seattle’s Burke Museum and the Harwood Museum of Art in Taos, New Mexico.

“The Renaissance of Mata Ortiz” screening & pottery sale:
Producer/Director Scott Petersen will be attendance for a Q&A after the movie
Admission: free to members, free with paid admission, $8 general

Saturday, October 19 @ 10:30am
Bowers Museum
2002 North Main Street
Santa Ana, CA 92706
(714) 567-3677
http://www.bowers.org/
www.MataOrtizMovie.com

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