The tribute to the four pottery centers of Tenerife yesterday focused the celebration of Council on the Insular Crafts Day. Specifically, the work of the specialized spaces Las Miquelas (Candelaria), Cha Domitila de Arguayo (Santiago del Teide), Doña María Barrios (San Miguel) and La Guancha. The president of the corporation, Rosa Davilaand the advisor of Employment and Education, Efraín Medina, presided over the event held in the Noble Hall in which the mayors of the four municipalities were present, Emilio Navarro (Santiago del Teide), Mari Brito (Candelaria), Arturo Gonzalez (San Miguel) and Antonio González (La Guancha). In addition to representatives of distinguished groups.
Rosa Dávila described as “inspiring” the effort to recover and give life to the utensils used by the Guanches “demonstrating that the usefulness and beauty of forms can coexist in harmony.” She valued celebrating “the richness of our sociocultural manifestations converted into true art.” She added that “we must maintain and cultivate it as a reference in the future.” She concluded by congratulating the four pottery centers on the Island “for the tireless work they do to maintain the cultural heritage of Tenerife.”
For his part, Efraín Medina pointed out that the recognition is fair because the pottery centers “have saved a craft of Aboriginal tradition and value an activity attached to our culture such as pottery.” He highlighted that the centers have also studied and brought out the light information within the framework of an essentially rural community, “hoarding secular knowledge in terms of ritual and peasant wisdom,” he concluded.
The traditional pottery pieces worked in these centers are bernegal, carving, brazier, orza, lato, escudilla, toaster, jar, pot, basin, gánigo, cuquito and milking jar.
Cha Domitila
It was created in a small Guanche village that was established in Arguayo, in the southwest of the Island. One of the characteristics of this pottery is that it is made by women and to cover the needs of the pastoral activity of the local men. Currently the center is located in a house with traditional popular architecture.
Captain’s House
In San Miguel there were different pottery centers. Today, the Casa el Capitan museum is developing a project to reproduce all the typologies with the same clay, tools and burning in wood-burning ovens.
La Guancha Center
In La Guancha there were 15 ovens in the El Farrobo area. Generally also made by women, its shapes are simple and its techniques linked to Aboriginal ceramics.
Casa Las Miquelas
In the municipality of Candelaria, pottery has been a very important part of its past. Along with fishing, it was the basis of subsistence for many families throughout the centuries. The city council is committed to the recovery of the pottery center from 2007 to the present.
