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 […]
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 […]
4-11-23 I moved to Baja in 2006 to pursue my creative passions and become the artist I was always meant to be. I drove to nearby landmarks that attracted my attention, took photos, and painted at home. The Cantamar Lighthouse south of Rosarito is an iconic landmark which is falling into ruin for lack of […]
3-14-2023 Valentín introduced me to indigenous leaders from Pa Ipai, Kiliwa, Kumiai, and Cucapá tribes in Baja. They gathered several times a year for ceremonies and artisan fairs. Pa Ipai Elder, Josefina Ochurte, opened this gathering of the elders with ceremonial smudging. She fanned participants with smoke from sage sticks using a large feather. At […]
I’d like to acknowledge Juan Quezada’s contribution to the arts in Mexico. On December 1, 2022, Juan Quezada died in a tragic auto accident near his ranch in Mata Ortiz, Chihuahua, Mexico, at the age of 82. All who knew him, offer our sympathies to his family, pottery making friends, galleries, cultural promoters and museums […]