Question 45 Answer and Explanation _ACT June 2014 Form 72C English Section

Passage III

The Pottery of Mata Ortiz

In the early 1950s, a twelve-year-old boy named, Juan Quezada, gathered firewood in the mountains near the village of Mata Ortiz in Chihuahua, Mexico. Though he dreamed of becoming an artist, Quezada spent all of his free time selling firewood to help support his family. In the mountains, Quezada found shards of pots, and an occasional complete pot, painted with intricate red and black designs. These were artifacts from his ancestors, the Paquimé (or Casas Grandes) Indians, who lived in the area from about AD 1000 to AD 1400. Fascinated by the geometric designs, Quezada wondered, if he could make pots like these?

(34) He dug the clay, soaked it, and tried to shape it into a pot. In time, he figured out how his ancestors had mixed the clay with volcanic ash to keep it from cracking and had used minerals found nearby to create paints. When it was time to paint his pots, Quezada designed his own complex geometric patterns.

As an adult, Quezada found a job with the railroad, but he always made time for his art. By 1976 he was selling pots to travelers and had taught several members of his family how to make pots. Three of Quezada’s pots were discovered in a junk shop in New Mexico by anthropologist Spencer MacCallum, who at first thought they were prehistoric. (36) His search for their creator led him to Mata Ortiz and an eventual partnership with Quezada. MacCallum showed Quezada’s pots to art dealers in the United States, the places in which art galleries were soon offering Quezada thousands of dollars for them.

[1] Quezada helped his village with the money he earned selling pottery, but he wanted to do more so. [2] So he taught people from Mata Ortiz to make pots. [3] Today there are more than four hundred potters around, all of which make their pots by hand, following the traditions of the Paquimé Indians. [4] The village is thriving, and many museums proudly display the pottery of Mata Ortiz. [5] Each artist brought something unique to they’re creations. (44)

45. Suppose the writer’s primary purpose had been to write an essay summarizing the history of pottery making in Mexico. Would this essay accomplish that purpose?

A. Yes, because it discusses ancient pottery shards and complete pots from the Paquimé Indians and compares that pottery to modern designs.

B. Yes, because it demonstrates the quality of the ancient pottery of the Mata Ortiz area.

C. No, because it focuses instead on how one artist based his creations on ancient pottery techniques and shared those techniques with other artists.

D. No, because it focuses instead on describing the Casas Grandes culture in ancient Mexico.

Answer and Explanation

Your Answer is

Correct Answer is C

Explanation

The title stem says that the main purpose is to "summarize the history of pottery production in Mexico", which is obviously wrong. This article describes how the artist Quezada learned and taught others how to make pots, C correct.