Guillermo Ríos Alcalá is a Mexican potter, restoration expert and educator from the state of

Colima Colima (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Colima ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Colima), is one of the 31 states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It shares its name with its capital and ...

. He was born in

Chapala, Jalisco Chapala () is a town and municipality in the central Mexican state of Jalisco, located on the north shore of Lake Chapala, Mexico's largest freshwater lake. According to the 2015 census, its population is 50,738 for the municipality. The municip ...

to Felipe Ríos and María Guadalupe Alcalá, but moved to the city of Colima in 1957. His grandfather, Jesús Becerra, was a potter, making pieces for personal use only. As a child, Ríos Alcalá played with balls of clay but had no real inclination towards pottery, but his father made him learn. His father was a farmer, who found pre Hispanic pieces while working in the fields. The artisan experimented with the broken ones, developing ways to restore them. This became a vocation by accident. He was working as a bricklayer, and was asked to restore a pre Hispanic piece. This led to work with the

University of Colima The University of Colima (in Spanish: ''Universidad de Colima'') is a Mexican public university with several campuses across the state of Colima, bordering the Pacific Ocean. It was created on September 16, 1940 by the President Lázaro Cárdenas ...

on restoration projects when he was only eighteen. Since then, he has established a permanent workshop at the

Museo Universitario de Artes Populares María Teresa Pomar Museo Universitario de Artes Populares María Teresa Pomar is a museum dedicated to Mexican handcrafts and folk art, Mexico's handcrafts and folk art tradition, called “artesanía.” It is part of the University of Colima in the Colima, Colima, ...

at the university, restoring pieces, making reproductions and giving workshops on pre Hispanic ceramics. His restoration specialty are figures from the shaft tombs found in western Mexico. Most of his reproduction work is that of Colima area pre Hispanic pottery. He makes figures of birds, priests and men and women in various activities, as well as monkey figures found only in Colima, but his most popular works are those of xoloitzcuintles or Mexican hairless dogs. The most famous Mesoamerican era image of these dogs is falsely called “the dancing dogs” but in reality is a depiction of an older dog passing on generational information to the younger. Ríos Alcalá created a monumental version of this piece which stands at a traffic circle in the city of Colima, on the highway to

Comala Comala () is a town and municipality located in the Mexican state of Colima, near the state capital of Colima. It has been nicknamed the “White Village of America” as the facades of the buildings in town have all been painted white since the 1 ...

. Ríos Alcalá has studied the pre Hispanic pottery of western Mexico for years, visiting pieces in museums and photographing archeological sites. He has continued working with the University of Colima, creating his reproductions with clay from Comala, using red earth pigments and creating pieces using molds. Several of his pieces are part of the museum’s permanent collection. His production is in demand by private collectors both in Mexico and abroad and he sometimes received special commissions. His work has brought him to countries such as the United States, Canada and

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

to give talks and exhibitions. In 2006, an exhibition of his work was held at the Galería Marianao in Havana, sponsored by the

Casa de las Américas Casa de las Américas is an organization that was founded by the Cuban Government in April 1959, four months after the Cuban Revolution, for the purpose of developing and extending the socio-cultural relations with the countries of Latin America, ...

and the Jornada de la Cultura Mexicana in Cuba. He is married with seven children, but none are potters. Ríos Alcalá has received recognition for his work since 1966 in the way of prizes and diplomas. He was named a “Great Master of Popular Art” by the Fomento Cultural

Banamex #redirect Grupo Financiero Banamex Grupo Financiero Banamex S.A. de C.V. has its origins and is the owner of the Banco Nacional de México or Citibanamex (formerly Banamex). It is the second-largest bank in Mexico. The Banamex Financial Group wa ...

in 2001. The Museo Universitario de Arte Popular Teresa Pomar held a retrospective of his work in 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rios Alcala, Guillermo Mexican artists Mexican potters Living people Year of birth missing (living people)