Gorky González Quiñones

Gorky González Quiñones (September 27, 1939 – January 15, 2017) was a Mexican potter who won the Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes for his efforts to revive Mexican maiolica pottery. He began in the arts following his father, sculptor Rodolfo González. Although he worked with and studied ceramics in Mexico and Japan, he did not work with maiolica until he received two pieces as part of his antique business. The technique had almost died out in his region, and González Quiñones learned how to make them. His workshop was in Guanajuato, with a client base in Mexico and the United States.

Life González Quiñones was born in Morelia, Michoacán, the son of sculptor Rodolfo González. His interest in art began young, learning from his father how to make decorative and artistic items with the lost-wax casting methods as well as sculpting in various materials including clay.

In 1962, he went to San Miguel de Allende to study at the Instituto Allende and the Escuelas de Artes, learning artistic casting. There he founded a terra cotta workshop, reproducing the designs of Gene Byron, a Canadian artist in Mexico.

He gained a reputation for his ceramic work and at the same time, met a young Japanese exchange student in Mexico named Hisato Murayama, who lent him books on Japanese arts.

González Quiñones died on January 15, 2017, aged 77.

Career After he returned from Japan, he opened an antique shop. There he received two antique maiolica pots. He asked his father about them, then began investigating the glazed wares, which were introduced to Mexico by the Spanish. The art form nearly extinct, González Quiñones decided to work to revive it.

Artistry González Quiñones employed traditional materials and kept most of the traditional methods. However, he produced both traditional and contemporary designs, with the clay coming from the nearby Sierra de Santa Rosa. The artist used both molds and turntables with 95% of his round items having been made on the latter. His colors and designs were relatively conservative, using mineral paints such as copper oxide for green, antimony for yellow and cobalt for blue, all prepared locally.

He used kilns made from heat-resistant cinderblock, which had wood, gas and other materials for fuel. They were fired twice with the second to fix the glaze.