Pottery Plus Posted On: Sunday, Nov. 22 2009 05:41 AM By Don Bolding
Killeen Daily Herald

Michelle Nuño had been a pharmacy technician for 12 years and was expecting to do the same kind of work all her life, but art found while visiting some relatives around Guadalajara, Mexico, attracted her three years ago.

"I like art, and I had lived in Killeen two years, long enough to see that there wasn't much distinctive, original arts and crafts work on the local market," the Michigan native said. "If I wanted it, I had to go to Austin, San Antonio or other big cities. So I thought I could import some of these works and make a go of offering them to this community."

So Nuño started Olde Mexico Pottery and Imports at 3101 S. Fort Hood St. The Mexican producers are all cottage industries, and the artists create whatever inspires them at the moment.

The offerings include pottery of all sorts, furniture, paintings and other wall art with realistic and fantasy themes and simple geometrical designs, wood carvings, metal art and a wide variety of other media.

Religious figures stand beside lots of suns and moons. A unique medium for small statuary is "hueso," or cattle bones.

A lot of the items are Texas-themed because producers pay attention to their markets. Most are obviously Latin American, but many could not be identified at first glance as coming from any area of the world.

"I'm fond of Mediterranean themes," Nuño said.

She buys from about 12 vendors settled in rural areas around Guadalajara and occasionally from others passing through. A partner who lives in the area collects the pieces she selects until he builds a truckload and then sends it north.

"I've listened to what my customers wish I had and then go down and look for similar items," she said. "Sometimes, customers ask for pieces identical to ones they've bought, for gifts or whatever, but that's usually not possible because the artists create everything new, and nothing is mass-produced," she said.

Among the few exceptions are replicated paintings of artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.

Often, the artists will take special orders, though. A sculpted angel went to a Catholic church, and a bench was hand-carved for a local school.

Killeen middle school art teacher Violetta Butler brought her class in to have students select works to try to duplicate.

"Different states and regions of Mexico produce different artworks," she said. "A lot of it depends on their raw materials. One place may have clay that's especially good for pottery, for example. Guadalajara is in the state of Jalisco, a very proud state. They're famed for their cowboys and mariachi bands and for the quality of their guava, used in making tequila, as well as their art."

Nuño said business was excellent the first couple of years but has dropped off because of the recession.

"The slowdown took awhile to get here, but I've noticed a lot of small stores around here going out of business. I'm hoping things will pick up," she said.

Operating the business alone, she is open six days a week and plans to stay open Mondays in December.

"One good thing is that with Fort Hood, new people are coming in all the time to discover me."

At the counter is a business card stand with cards for six or eight other small businesses.

"We all feel a kinship with each other and try to support each other," she said.

Contact Don Bolding at dbolding@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7557.