"I learned how to create ceramics from my parents, who were taught by my grandparents. As a child, I lived amid clay, potter's wheels and kilns."
"I'm Roger Calero, a ceramist born in Nicaragua in 1962. My art is a kind of family inheritance. You could even say I've been an artisan since I was in the womb. I learned how to create ceramics from my parents, who were taught by my grandparents. As a child, I lived amid clay, potter's wheels and kilns. I always wanted to be a ceramist. In the 1970s, the government sent an artisan from Spain and another from Mexico to teach us new techniques, and I learned to create innovative new pieces with better methods.
"Today, I have a workshop in my community where I employ neighborhood people and several family members. We have a well-organized process. Someone is in charge of preparing the materials, others shape clay on the potter's wheel, some apply liquid clay, draw the motifs, paint, carve and fire the pieces.
"All of the people in our workshop have full-time work and many have collaborated with us since 2008. Even the artisans who aren't related by blood have become family. It's a very simple workshop, but it's lovely and lively working here. I'm always aware of what each person is doing in the workshop by working side-by-side with them.
"Crafting Nicaraguan ceramics allows us to give our community the example of creating our ancestral art, which is a way of life. It also allows us to create sources of work. We dream of teaching more young people this art that's so important to Nicaragua and its culture."