Olivas, Roberto

Born in the village of Mata Ortiz in northern Mexico in 1984, Roberto Olivas has been producing pottery since about 2002. His mother, Lupita Hernandez, was a potter and he grew up watching her make pots. Eventually, he put his hands in the clay and began making his own.

Roberto is comfortable making his own small pots but for larger pots, he purchases blanks from other potters (some folks in Mata Ortiz just make blank pots for other potters to decorate).

It was Roberto and Tavo Silveira who pioneered carving away the unpainted backgrounds of their pots. Today he enjoys carving his pots and painting his designs.

Roberto says his pots bring in some good money but he enjoys working with clay so much he’d probably be making pots whether they made any money or not. When he’s not working on his pots, Roberto is probably out in the fields working with his cattle.

Two years younger than Roberto, his wife, Yadira Silveira, learned to make pots by watching her mother, Lila Silveira. Yadira makes pots, too, and often works with Roberto. They have two children and live in Barrio Porvenir.

Both have entered several of the annual Concurso Ceramica de Mata Ortiz competitions. Roberto brought home a First Place ribbon in 2007. In 2019 he earned a Second Place ribbon at the Concurso for a white polychrome jar.