In honor of Native American Heritage Month (November), I am focusing on theancient pottery-making process practiced in the Pa Ipai community of SantaCatarina, Baja California. Daria Mariscal, Pa Ipai master potter and teacher, in her home museum In 2011, Daria invited me to bring friends to her home to learn pottery makingin the Pa Ipai […]
A few months ago, friend and women’s empowerment activist living in Baja,Mary Contreras, invited me to present at the second annual BAJA WOMEN’S CONFERENCE on September 21, 2024. I thought of many reasons to hesitate, like the fact that I’d not driven alone(egads) or lived in Baja for five years or I was out of […]
Wildfire season seems to come earlier and earlier. Weather patterns don’t stop at the California/Baja border. Baja is prone to wildfires just the same as California. A few months after I bought my townhome in the seaside community of Bajamar in 2005, a wildfire swept through the scrublands in front of this brand-new home and threatened to burn it down. I arrived the day after and […]
May, 2024 – Sue Niazi McDevitt When spring arrived in Baja, I roamed the coastal scrublands around my home in Bajamar to see how many different wildflowers I could find. If it had been a particularly wet winter, there would be surprises in abundance. I would bring home a stem of each one and render […]
Riviera Maya 2013 1 – Playa del Carmen – Beach at Playacar and 2 – Playacar Ruins It was the coldest winter that I’d experienced in Baja. The dream of warmth in the Yucatán Peninsula drew me to the Riviera Maya in January 2013. After flying into Cancun, my first stop was Playa del Carmen to visit a friend with a comfy room just for me. It […]
Bacalar, Quintana Roo, Mexico in 2011 Art Rendezvous at Casita Carolina in Bacalar Sunrise at Casita Carolina next to the Lake of Seven Colors, Bacalar I enjoyed doing quick sketches every day over the seven days of the art rendezvous. We visited a different painting location each day. Among the venues were – the Mayan ruins of Dzibanche, […]
Ojo de Liebre (near the town of Guerrero Negro) is a vast lagoon protected from ocean predators. It is a safe place for mothers to give birth and couples to mate. It’s about 500 miles south of the Baja border with California. From January through March each year, gray whales arrive from the Bering Straits […]
The Pottery Making Process Can you imagine creating a highly artistic piece of pottery without ever going to the store for supplies or using a kiln to fire it? Can you imagine using your own hands and materials from the earth to create this pottery? The many pottery making families in the small town of […]
The Mata Ortiz, Chihuahua, family of potters who adopted me when I visited the famous pottery village in 2009 and 2011 with Valentín. (Rosy Mora and Adán Villalobos and children – all grown now). How it all Started What led me on my first expedition to the famed pottery village ofMata Ortiz, Chihuahua, in 2009? As promised, here is another adventurewith […]
August 17, 2023 How in the world could anyone imagine that there might be an oasis in the desert within this hot, dry Baja landscape? How about jumping into a pick-up with Mexican neighbors and a bunch of kids and heading down a rutted dirt road east of Ensenada in 2007 to find out? Just […]