Mata Ortiz Pottery

Mata Ortiz pottery ranks among the finest contemporary ceramics found anywhere in the world. Collections are housed in renowned museums throughout North America. Each pot is made from local, natural materials and then fired in cow dung or cottonwood bark. There are well over three hundred potters making highly collectible earthenware, including fine polychrome pieces, black-on-black, red pottery and animal figures. Mata Ortiz pottery is similar to the work of Native American artists in the Southwestern United States. Pieces vary from those which focus on traditional designs to pots in which innovative style is featured. From Tokyo to Mexico City to New York, serious collectors share excitement and respect for the new artists of Mata Ortiz.

"We haven't seen the best pottery yet. Every time you see new potters, new work, and Juan Quezada's new work, it's better than the old."

Walter Parks, author
quoted in the documentary video,
"Mata Ortiz Pottery: An Inside Look"

"When the anthropologist, Spencer MacCallum, first told me that my work would sell in museums I was crazy with happiness! I thought this was incredible. You can't imagine! How could someone pay me to do the thing that I loved?"

Juan Quezada, quoted in "Mata Ortiz Pottery: An Inside Look."