Expressing the importance of the pottery trade in the province of Almería is clear and simple, yet accepting the relevance of the craftsmanship and the knowledge and know-how that goes with it in terms of Andalusian heritage has been a complex process. A postulation of popular wisdom, the onset of which preserves the formal and cultural expression of its own history, craftwork in general and artisan trades using clay, in particular, establish themselves as the paradigm of the customs and traditions of a community, a group, whose historical, economic and socio-cultural circumstances have contributed towards the work of artisans having such a crucial role in the life of a region, even becoming a true identity model for a specific town.
Inhabited since prehistoric times, to a large extent because of its mining wealth, the development of an area like Almería could very easily be outlined via the diversity of ceramic relics left along the way by the different cultures which over the centuries occupied this southern region.
The deep-rooted history of the clay culture in Almería shows the continuity and importance of an activity established since ancient times. Proof of this are the Chalcolithic productions of Los Millares, the sophisticated Argaric shapes or the excellence of the Hispano-Arabic pieces, a period that will see pottery in all its splendour. To a large extent, the knowledge of processes and techniques is the result of this legacy backed up with the organisation of work or the meaning and usage given to traditional pottery. Today’s pottery maintains some similarities with that past, which still lives on, particularly with the application of some glazing techniques, with the existence of potters' wheels that are excavated – buried or semi-buried in the ground, or in the way the ovens are maintained which were being used eight centuries ago. However, the continuity of this artisan industry has been conditioned by the influence of a number of factors that have determined and still in fact determine its continuity.
The significant structural changes that took place in the traditional agricultural life during the second half of the 20th century, as a result of the mechanisation of agricultural work, improved communication infrastructures, the emigration from the countryside to the city or the introduction of new materials conditioned the definitive crisis within the clay sector, forcing large number of pottery workshops to close or redirect their production, forced to sacrifice tradition in favour of trade and tourism.
Whatever the case, the fact that the pottery trade has survived in Almería is nothing less than a miracle. Even though countless production centres have disappeared (Abla, Berja, Illar, Serón, Huércal-Overa, Benahadux and Tabernas), some pottery workshops have survived in various towns in the province, moulding their unique shapes and using the old fashioned way of glazing (vedrío), managing to combine the production of the more traditional designs, for water and fire mainly, with new shapes that are purely decorative and ornamental. Generally located in the same areas and streets in which they began, normally on the outskirts of the town, as close as possible to the quarries, clay sites and ravines in the area that supplied them with raw materials, these pottery workers have managed to maintain their traditional production systems and techniques insofar as possible which, unlike other regions, are characterised by a homogeneity specific only to the characteristics of each workshop.
In order to get a true perspective of these exhibits in the province of Almería, the pottery workshops that are so representative and still active in the area such as Albox, Sorbas, Níjar or Alhabia, have to be included, despite the fact that so many workshops have disappeared and that the activity is in gradual decline and is even in danger of disappearing completely. Only a few decades ago, Albox had around thirty pottery workshops distributed between the Barrio Alto and La Loma. Sorbas, one of the most established centres, had around twenty Arab kilns and fifty workshops in the Barrio de las Cantarerías, now called Las Alfarerías. Níjar had over twenty and in Alhabia, in the Barrio de las Alfarerías, there were also over twenty that were still active.
Today’s situation, however, defines other patterns, and indicates new perspectives. Most traditional pottery items now occupy a privileged position in the home, becoming immobile items that are no longer used, that no longer break, that are no longer consumed, giving them a prolonged existence unseen in the past. This situation, together with immediacy instead of long term, production in quantitative terms, the lack of apprentices to carry on the trade and the lack of knowledge and appreciation of artisan skills, outline a very bleak future for the pottery trade in Almería.
The activities carried out by the local and regional authorities gain a great relevance, since they are responsible for implementing strategies that will enable commercial and socio-cultural objectives to be combined, with the understanding that they are both just as necessary and irreplaceable, thus encouraging the creation of proposals capable of generating meetings in which artisans and authorities can progress together.
Clay and water, fire and air have to be understood not just as the material, the element or the means that will enable the creation of the shape, the object, the piece, but also as transmitters of processes and contexts that have gradually defined the transformation of these towns and the cultural groups that generation after generation have provided them with life. In short, traditional activities, the future of which we must guarantee.
