Seated beside the Talavera tibor he made in 2024, Phoenix Home & Garden Masters of the Southwest award-winning artist Gennaro Garcia is almost dwarfed by his own creation. The piece, part of the Jose Cardenas Collection, is entitled “Look Into My Eyes And Take My Hand, Woman of Nopal … You Are Not Alone,” and is a celebration of Mexican femininity. “Women are the most beautiful creation in the world, as pure and as perfect as a drop of water,” Garcia says. “But when you put together 1 million drops of water, you have the strongest force in the universe.”

The 440-pound, 6-foot-high collaboration marks the 200th anniversary of Uriarte Talavera in Puebla, Mexico, the oldest enterprise of its kind in the world. The paint brushes, materials, construction and firing techniques used replicate how artisans created 200 years ago. “We need to protect women and be there for them,” Garcia says. “This was my way of doing that.”