The Plenary Hall of the Cabildo of La Gomera hosted the presentation of the book ‘Insular Potteries. El Cercado of La Gomera and Margarita Island’. The work delves into the pottery tradition of both territories and the historical and cultural ties connecting the Canary Islands and America through this ancestral craft.
The event also featured the inauguration of an exhibition related to the book's content, allowing the public to appreciate the material, symbolic, and heritage richness of traditional pottery, with a special focus on El Cercado of La Gomera, a key artisanal enclave for the Gomera identity.
“"It speaks of clay, but also of memory, it speaks of islands, but also of oceans; and it speaks of humble, everyday objects capable of containing an immense story."
Adasat Reyes, first vice-president of the Cabildo of La Gomera, highlighted that the publication emphasizes the connection between two territories separated by the Atlantic but united by traditional pottery. He valued the fundamental role of women in preserving this craft, calling the work “an act of recognition for the potters of La Gomera and Margarita Island”.
Reyes stressed that the Atlantic is presented in the research “not as a border, but as a space of continuity,” recalling the shared routes, migrations, and knowledge between the Canary Islands and America. He noted that “islands are not isolated places, but nodes of relationship that look to the sea not only as a limit, but also as a path”.
“"The publication highlights pottery not only as manual labor but as an expression of identity, territory, and collective memory, especially emphasizing the role of women potters, whose work has contributed to transforming the cultural and social landscape of their communities."
Pilar Hernández, director of the Associated Center of UNED in Tenerife, explained that the work stems from a university project, through the Chair of Canary Islands-America Studies, focused on the comparative study of pottery from El Cercado in La Gomera and from Margarita Island in Venezuela. She detailed that the book is “the result of various visits, research, and fieldwork” and brings together specialists to analyze the links between the two islands.
The publication comparatively examines the ceramics of El Cercado of La Gomera with that of El Cercado of Margarita Island in Venezuela. Both island communities share a name and artisanal production methods traditionally developed by women, without a potter's wheel, using manual techniques with notable parallels.
The volume, edited by Miguel Ángel García Hernández, director of the Chair of Canary Islands-America Studies at UNED, includes contributions from specialists such as Juan Carlos García Ávila, Inmaculada Hernández Chinea, José Ángel Hernández Marrero, Juan Carlos Hernández Marrero, Juan Francisco Navarro Mederos, Víctor David Ocanto Rada, Grecy Pérez Amores, and Patricia Velasco Barbieri. The work was promoted by the Chair of Canary Islands-America Studies at UNED-Tenerife, with sponsorship from the Cabildo Insular de La Gomera and the Fundación CajaCanarias.
The book is the outcome of a research project initiated in 2023, which involved fieldwork, meetings between pottery communities, historical, anthropological, archaeological, and heritage studies, as well as actions aimed at conserving the traditional kilns still preserved in El Cercado of La Gomera.
