Banuelos, Roberto

Roberto Bañuelos Guerrero works with his wife, Maria de los Angeles Angela Lopez de Banuelos. She forms, sands and polishes the pots that Roberto then paints and fires. Roberto also sometimes makes plates. Following local tradition, as the painter, Roberto signs all the pots.

In making their pots, Angela uses yellow, red, black, white and mixed colors of clay.

In applying his designs, Roberto often begins by splattering drops of a particular color across the vessel and letting that dry, then painting his interpretations of Mimbres-style fish, rabbits, feathers, lizards and miscellaneous fantasy creatures across the surface. He also often adds a necklace of Paquimé Revival geometric designs around the opening. He has said that he prefers tripartite design fields rather than the usual two-or-four panel designs, because they require more skill.

Roberto and Angela learned to make pottery in 1988, learning from two of Angela’s sisters: Rosa Irene and Gloria Isela Lopez. Both women are in-laws of Reynaldo Quezada and they learned how to make pottery from him.