Artemio Poma Gutierrez

Quinoa Ceramics From Ayacucho, Peru

Ceramicist Artemio Poma Gutiérrez, from the Ayacucho region of Peru, has an elegant, distinctive approach to creating a style of pottery known as “Quinoa ceramics”, that has been characteristic of this region for many hundreds of years. Raised in a family of artisans, Artemio started experimenting with art-making as a child by assisting his family gather and prepare clay. Over time he evolved into potting and sculpting, and developed an expressive style, with a unique ability to relate the stories, myths, and day-to-day lives of Andean people, conveyed in ceramics that serve both functional and strictly aesthetic purposes.

As the capital city of Peru’s mountainous Huamanga Province, Ayacucho contains an intriguing blend of Indigenous roots mixed with more recent Catholic-introduced influences; this diverse setting manifests in correspondingly varied artwork, which has been representative of the region for centuries. 

Artemio adorns his ceramics—usually rendered in earthy tones of beige, deep coral, and chocolate brown—with traditional iconography typical of the region. This could manifest, for example, in a plump llama, covered with a delicately applied, meticulously patterned blanket on its rounded back. Artemio is also known for his highly detailed mission-style clay churches and other buildings, populated with little figures and animals. Artemio’s specialized, recognizable style makes his work both aesthetically appealing and inherently collectible.