Juan Quezada Celado

His work has been covered in various books, doctoral thesis and periodicals and can be found in major museums in the United States, Europe and Japan. In 1998, the state of Chihuahua recognized his work with a plaque, which was followed in 1999 by the Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes. His work has also received recognition from the Congress of the United States. However, despite this, he still remains relatively unknown in his native Mexico.

Quezada’s works now sell for hundreds and even thousands of dollars in the United States, and is regularly exhibited in Arizona, California and New Mexico. Success in Mexico came later in the 1990s, first in Nuevo León then in Chihuahua. He exhibited at the prestigious Franz Mayer Museum in Mexico City in 1999. He continues to give occasional classes in the United States and has received offers of long term employment there, but has declined to move away from his hometown.

Quezada makes his pieces with simple tools. The pots are initially built using the coil method, then they are scraped with a hacksaw blade to their final shape. He fires the pots in small groups in an inverted flower pot saggar, covered in cottonwood bark or cow manure which is set on fire. Originally Juan covered pieces in a clay slip before painting. In the early 1980s he devised a new way to make a smoother surface for paintings by sanding the surface with a stone or deer bone then covering liberally with oil and polishing. This allows for a greater refinement in the painted designs. The fineness of these paintings has greatly enhanced the value of the wares. The pots are painted with clay slips and mineral pigments. Brushes can be as slim as a few strands of human hair.

This movement grew as the popularity of the pottery grew, especially in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s. Juan’s work has resulted in about 300 families who earn all or part of their income from pottery, making it the main economic activity of the town, making Mata Ortiz one of the main ceramics center of the northern Mexico/southwest U.S. region.

It was in the border town of Deming, New Mexico where an American anthropologist named Spencer MacCallum found one of Quezada’s pots in 1976. The shop owner did not know who the artist was, so MacCallum went looking for other pots, following leads until he came to Mata Ortiz. Quezada was surprised at MacCallum’s interest. The American wanted more pots, but Quezada told him they took time and to return in two months. MacCallum kept his promise which began an eight-year business relationship between the two men. MacCallum wanted Quezada to continue developing his artistry, so he offered a stipend. With this support, Juan went beyond copying pre Hispanic pottery to modernizing the designs and forms. MacCallum provided contacts, sales experience and more to gain access to markets by showing pieces to museum curators, academics, gallery owners and others. These efforts allowed Quezada to exhibit at prestigious galleries in Arizona, New Mexico and California in 1979 and 1980 under the name of Juan Quezada and the New Tradition, establishing Mata Ortiz pottery as a legitimate art movement. This collection was kept intact and eventually donated in its entirety to the San Diego Museum of Man in 1997.

Juan Quezada Celado (born May 6, 1940; died December 1, 2022) was a Mexican potter known for the re-interpretation of Casas Grandes pottery known as Mata Ortiz pottery. Quezada is from a poor rural town in Chihuahua, who discovered and studied pre Hispanic pottery of the Mimbres and Casas Grandes cultures. He eventually worked out how the pots were made with no help from ceramicists or specialists in these cultures. Initial attempts to sell the pots in his area failed, but he did have success with border merchants. These brought the pottery to shops on the U.S. side of the border, where they were discovered by Spencer MacCallum, an anthropologist who tracked Quezada down and helped him break into the larger U.S. market. Quezada’s success in pottery sparked interest in the activity by others in the town and he responded by teaching family and friends. Today there are over 300 families who earn all or part of their income from the pottery. Quezada’s work has been displayed in museums in various countries and in 1999 he was awarded the Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes. Despite this, his work was relatively unknown in Mexico during his lifetime.