I’ve been lucky enough to go to Mata Ortiz dozens of times. I’ve made many friends and seen the incredible talent of the villagers. One of the things that I immediately fell in love with was the way creativity could really go kind of wild there. Other traditional arts of indigenous peoples are often constrained by an adherence to a particular family design or style. There’s no such thing going on in Mata Ortiz. As long as a design or style is well done, it receives more recognition if it is completely unique. If that new style attracts a lot of commercial interest, then others incorporate some aspect of that new style into their own work, thus keeping the pottery tradition extremely vibrant. Every few months it seems there is a new trend to be seen.