I’d like to acknowledge Juan Quezada’s contribution to the arts in Mexico.
On December 1, 2022, Juan Quezada died in a tragic auto accident near his ranch in Mata Ortiz, Chihuahua, Mexico, at the age of 82.
All who knew him, offer our sympathies to his family, pottery making friends, galleries, cultural promoters and museums with whom he worked for many years.
He was a great ceramicist who was known worldwide for reviving an ancient ceramic tradition that had completely died out. In his own style he created a modern version of the pottery linked the to the Casa Grandes culture of Chihuahua.
Many family members learned from Quezada and a pottery making movement spread throughout the tiny village of Mata Ortiz. Quezada succeeded in improving the lives of the people around him.
My Ensenada friend Adalberto Pérez Meillón introduced me to the Mata Ortiz pottery which he sold in his Pérez Meillón Gallery. He spoke highly of Juan Quezada and encouraged me to visit the village. He has provided much of the information in this blog.
I had the good fortune of meeting Juan Quezada in April 2009 and spending ten days with neighbors of his – the pottery making family of Rosy Mora and Adán Villalobos.
Future blogs will include stories of the potters I met in Mata Ortiz.