Mexico City, where Lucrecia Trejo Waggoner was born, is home. It’s where she first discovered ceramics, which would eventually morph from hobby to career. It’s where her friends and family still live. And it’s even where she met her husband, John, a blond, blue-eyed Texan from the Park Cities. (Their first date? An outing at a polo tournament that ended with Waggoner falling off her horse and fracturing her pelvis. John wooed her while she was on bed rest living with her mother.)For Waggoner, Dallas is her second life, and moving here 16 years ago brought about quite a transformation.
“The transition from me being an outsider to a person who belongs here was very easy for me,” Waggoner says. “People are very, very welcoming. I feel like one of them.”
Because she couldn’t get a job right away, she decided to study ceramics more seriously at SMU, eventually striking out on her own as a studio artist, evolving her work into large installations made up of tiny porcelain vessels inspired by the curves found in nature and her travels. Now she’s busy with commissions (one of which will go on the wall of a One Arts Plaza residence) and prepping for a gallery show in Houston in September. She also stays busy with her two children—Isabel, 14, and Daniel, 12, who have been raised bilingual. Isabel will attend Booker T. Washington in the fall.
A peek inside Waggoner’s closet proves just how well she’s adjusted to Texas living. She describes her style as “rocker chic” and says she prefers neutrals, but color has snuck into her wardrobe over the years. After working with clay all day, every evening out is an opportunity to dress up. And no Birkenstocks. Ever. She calls herself a recycler, wearing various staple pieces of clothing forever, but she indulges her shoe collection. High heels are a must.
“I’m 5’7”, and my husband is short. So I’m always taller than him, always,” Waggoner says, and laughs. “He likes it.”
