Carlomagno Pedro Martínez

Carlomagno Pedro Martínez (born August 17, 1965) is a Mexican artist and artisan in “barro negro” ceramics from San Bartolo Coyotepec, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. He comes from a family of potters in a town noted for the craft. He began molding figures as a child and received artistic training when he was 18. His work has been exhibited in Mexico, the U.S. and Europe and he has been recognized as an artist as well as an artisan. Today, he is also the director of the Museo Estatal de Arte Popular de Oaxaca (MEAPO) in his hometown. In 2014, Martínez was awarded Mexico's National Prize for Arts and Sciences

Formation

Carlomagno grew up in San Bartolo Coyotepec which has a ceramics tradition that extends back to the pre Hispanic period. The local speciality is “barro negro” or black clay, which gets its color from the properties of the clay when handled in a specific way. Most potters still use techniques from the pre Hispanic period, especially in molding although there have been innovations in firing. His grandparents as well as parents, Antonio Eleazar Pedro Carreño and Glafira Martínez Barranco, worked the local clay. His father began experimenting with more creative forms in order to earn more money for the family’s work and both parents taught their children to be proud of the work they do.

His first name, Carlomagno, is the Spanish version of Charlemagne who his grandmother Magdalena Carreño admired greatly. His father gave him the name in honor of his mother. He received the Premio Nacional de La Juventud Presidencia de la República in 1987 which led to a scholarship to student in the United States from the US Embassy in Mexico in 1989.

When he was 31, he began teaching classes to children in Coyotepec, which led to the formation of a large group concentrated on creating figures in clay, which he himself was learning to use the potters’ wheel.

Inspiration and creation "Tzompantli" at the Museo Estatal de Arte Popular de Oaxaca. Carlomagno states that he uses the clay to express his emotions much the ways other paint or write.

He has also created murals and other artworks in barro negro, many of which use the brilliance of the medium to play with the light. In 2010, it appeared at the Galerìa Arte Contemporàneo Noel Cayetano in Oaxaca.

MEAPO He is currently the director of the Museo Estatal de Arte Popular de Oaxaca (MEAPO) in his hometown, a museum dedicated to the handcrafts of the state of Oaxaca, especially those in the Central Valleys region. He was one of the main actors in the founding of this museum in its current form in the 2000s.