Don Gregorio Bracamonte is the most prolific artisan in his family. However, at 60 years old, he is not the oldest; his mother still creates her own traditional pots in her mid 80’s. Don Gregorio grew up in the traditional period of the San Juan pueblo, his mother made pots and his father carved stones mined out of the local Laguna de Apoyo.
An important note on Don Gregorio’s work is that he did not learn the decorative, sculptural style he is now famous for; he brought it back to life. In recapturing that indigenous art form Don Gregorio has opened up a cloudy pre-Columbian history of Nicaragua.
The discovery, and use of the sap of the local Mora tree as a dark pigment, is a significant and eye opening cultural technique. The sculptural designs of the Nicoya culture bare witness to an ancient culture which thrived in the Pacific region of Nicaragua for well over 2000 years.
Don Gregorio is a humble man. His primary goal as an artist was to reach and surpass the level of artistry that his father met as a stone sculpture. Gregorio has met that goal being recognized formally by the national government as a cultural master artisan.
A new challenge has faced Don Gregorio over the past years. As collectors have enjoyed and collected his work for the master pieces they are, academics and institutions have down graded Gregorio’s work as replicas. In a response to that notion Gregorio Bracamonte has built his own style of creativity into his ceramic sculpture, which, by design, is established in the lost techniques of his ancestors.
In his recent work Don Gregorio has expanded the size, sculptural construction as well as elaborated the designs of his pieces while maintaining traditional pigments and techniques. His work is culturally significant based on the emergence of the contemporary style in San Juan de Oriente, essentially, he is the last one you maintains and practices this knowledge.
My personal relationship with Gregorio has been a blessing. As we sit and talk I feel the connection, the link, that he maintains to the forgotten time. As we travel around the country in art events it is abundantly clear – there isn’t any work comparable to the Nicoya sculptures by Gregorio Bracamonte.
