
Magdalena Pedro Martínez is both a ceramicist and a physician. She was 19 when she began dedicating herself to her art form while she was attending medical school. Magdalena specializes in female figures dressed in the traditional trajes (costumes) of the seven regions of the state of Oaxaca. She views her art form as her contribution to the preservation of her culture and has 24 recorded trajes. She takes special pride in recreating little known trajes from the past. One of her commissioned works was a collection of large costumed figures for a museum in México City. Magdalena also produces elegant and pompous catrinas for Day of the Dead clothed in elaborate female dresses... She works with a combination of shiny and matte surfaces that capture through contrast the rich detail of her truly exquite trajes. The brilliant detail is achieved using quartz as her burnishing tool. From start to finish, a mona, including the drying process, takes approximately one week... Magdalena currently devotes more time to ceramics than to medicine, and shares a small office in her pueblo with her husband Raul, also a physician... These photos were taken on site at The Mexico Art Show. It was difficult to capture the true matt coloring, which is a gun powder steel grey, in the photo shoot due to glare. The best representation is #05-07, which was shot in more ideal lighting conditions.