On a fateful visit to Mexico, the Slaughters bought a house on the spur of the moment.  It was not just an old house -- it was an 18th century home in a beautiful, small mining village.  It was huge and required five years of work.  The very last room tackled was the kitchen, a small dingy place with almost no windows.  Old tiles were added, and niches were put into the thick adobe walls for display.  It was the niches that started it all:  what to

put in them?  The answer turned out to be Mexican pottery in keeping with the age and “bones” of the place, and that was what started the Slaughters’ journey into collecting vintage pottery and folk art.

    In a very short time, they were on their way.  Pieces came slowly at first, but as the Slaughters learned more and more, the niches started filling up.  It was not long until one name jumped out of the pack, and it was, of course, Martínez.

     Slaughter fell in love with Martínez’s work -- it was his “eye candy” for the soul.   Over the years, he and his wife collected many pieces of Martínez’s creations, including many from the harder to get periods.  He and fellow collector, Ed Jordan, competed for pieces good naturedly during on-line auctions, and  Slaughter found many in other places.

     Unfortunately, Slaughter died a few years ago after writing his “tale” of how he discovered Martínez.  Before his death, he gave Ed Jordan many photos of the items in his huge collection, some of which are shown below.  Slaughter was also a keen photographer of other collections, both private and those in museums.  Thus, some of the photos below represent Martínez pieces in various collections throughout the country.