Jorge Luiz Pessotti – a Brazilian Potter

My partner, David, and I were visiting Brazil and staying in a small Poussada, a sort of inn, in the town of Paraty on the coast between the huge cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. In colonial times Paraty was the export route for minerals and gems mined inland. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage site and a popular weekend destination. Apart from being set amongst beautiful forests and beaches, it hosts an annual international literary festival, and has many shops selling local art and craft both modern and traditional. Ceramics, however, was conspicuous by its absence.

The town is surrounded by steep wooded hills and we decided to explore the final stages of the 'Gold Trail'. Climbing the steep curves of the road from Paraty to Cunha over narrow bridges, we stopped at a waterfall to see some of the orginal road. It was built by slaves with large flat stones and the traffic would mostly have been donkeys with panniers. Eduardo, the owner of the poussada, had mentioned that there was a pottery in this direction. At the side of the road was a sign advising of an artisan pottery a few kilometers further up the hill. There we round Jorge taking enthusiastically to a customer.

Jorge Luiz Pessotti studied and taught art and ceramics at the university in São Paulo from 1980. In 2000 he tired of the hassle and noise of the big city. (São Paulo has 18 million inhabitants, compared with London's 14 million, and often suffers 200km of traffic jams at rush hour.) He bought a plot of 102,000m² at a height of 530m overlooking Paraty and the sea. It includes part of the river and waterfalls forming a sort of natural spa. He has a long term project to make it accessible to visitors and to build a small artistic community.

Jorge is working with a local clay, mostly fired to earthenware. However, he has found that with the addition of some sand and mica it will fire to 1250°C. Much of the work is large and sculptural, with heads and masks featuring strongly. He had some glazed work, but most was decorated with slips, or painted after firing. He is combining these with cylinder and pot shapes to construct totem markers along the trail through his land. Unfortunately those items were out of the question for a return flight. I selected a small jar with interesting bosses, decorated with an iron/magnesium slip. As we were leaving Jorge kindly made a gift to us of two miniature faces, which we will hang in our garden to remind us of Jorge and his little remote paradise.