Andrew Rivera is an accomplished studio potter, currently creating at Clay Coyote in Hutchinson, MN. Inspired by function, history, design, and culture, his wares reflect on personal identity and his Mexican heritage. His current body of work is inspired by Pre-Columbian forms and revolutionary 19th Century Mexican printmakers such as Jose Guadalupe Posada and Manuel Manilla. Rivera’s use of skeleton imagery is rooted in this history and culture, which recognizes and embraces death without fear or social taboo. Rivera shares, “I have struggled with anxiety related to death and this work functions to connect myself and others with Mexican ideals surrounding it.” Food and family also inform and inspire Rivera’s work, bringing their utilitarian functions to contemporary gatherings even as their forms trace a connection to history and ancestry.