Born in 1984, Hector Javier Martinez sprang onto the Mata Ortiz pottery scene around 2008 with his distinctive style of black and white pots incised with Day of the Dead and Night of the Dead motifs. Those designs resulted from a comment made to him by Steve Rose (a well-known American pottery dealer).

Employed as an auto mechanic and gardener just to make ends meet while he figured out the pottery making business, Javier had asked what Steve thought he needed to do in order to make pottery his real day job. Steve replied, "Time for something different." A few years later Javier earned a First Place award at the 2013 Concurso Ceramica de Mata Ortiz for one of his Day of the Dead pots. Then in 2014 he earned the Presidencial Award at the Premio Nacional de la Ceramica in Tlaquepaque, Mexico. He'd submitted a large black-on-white olla incised with Mexico City sights and his Night of the Dead theme (the pot pictured above). Since then we have seen his pots with Day of the Dead and Night of the Dead motifs on them with backgrounds from Paris, Santa Fe, San Francisco, Venice, Mata Ortiz and New York City.

Javier told us he first learned how to make pottery from his mother, but her style was very different from what he found in Mata Ortiz. He had to learn all over again, using local materials and different processes and tools.

In the beginning, his subjects were religious (the Virgin of Guadalupe, priest images, etc.) and the designs were all painted on his pots. It was more than a decade ago that he and Gabriela produced their first black-and-white sgraffito Day of the Dead/Night of the Dead pots together. The style took off immediately and they haven't looked back since, although they have branched out into polychromes and now decorate bowls and plates, too.

Today, Javier is producing all kinds and sizes of pots with his signature Day of the Dead and Night of the Dead motifs. However, with his success has come competition and knockoffs. That said, the detail of his work sets him well apart and working with Gabriela has introduced some new elements into their Dia de los Muertos collection of designs, adding curlicues and other graphic elements, sometimes in Javier's designs and sometimes around the base and in a wide band below the rim.

Javier and Gabriela have four sons, ten years between youngest and oldest (although Javier says he wants another). He says his inspiration comes from his culture and music. Gabriela concurred with that saying that when he's working on a large pot, he might as well be living as a character on the pot.

Javier and Gabriela usually come to visit with us at Andrea Fisher Fine Pottery in Santa Fe just before Dia de Los Muertos (November 1).

Gabriela Perez de Martinez was born in 1983. About 20 years later she met and fell in love with Hector Javier Martinez. At the time he was doing scattered odd jobs around Mata Ortiz as a car mechanic and gardener, trying to make ends meet while he spent his spare time trying to figure out how to make pottery the Mata Ortiz way. Their first son (Gabriel) was born before Javier got it right, then his pottery business took off about the same time Hector Javier Jr. (their second son) was born. Gabriela got involved and learned the whole process from Javier because he just couldn't keep up with demand. At the same time, she brought a feminine touch to his work and in this time of increased competition and knock-offs, that feminine touch is rewarding them with new designs that showcase the best that both Gabriela and Javier bring to their craft.

Gabriela says she has been making pots for about 10 years after having been taught how by her husband. It's Gabriela who adds the sgraffito butterfly, flower, vine and curlicue designs to their pieces. She also fills in some of the fine details for Javier.

Gabriela told us she gets her inspiration from Nature, and while Javier says he'd like another son, Gabriela assures us that four boys is more than enough.