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About Juan Quezada Celado
- Juan Quezada Celado (born May 6, 1940) is 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 is still relatively unknown in Mexico.
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