Mata Ortiz
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The tiny village of Mata Ortiz in the northern state of Chihuahua, Mexico has the look of antiquity about it. The crumbling buildings look as though they were built at the same time as the nearby ruins of the extinct Casas Grandes culture which flourished in the 11th through 13th centuries. Today, the potters who live here produce their wares inspired by the traditions that had already died out by the time of the Spanish conquest.
Attracted by the beauty of the prehistoric pottery shards of the Casas Grandes found near his village, Juan Quezada, a poor, uneducated young woodcutter, spent years experimenting with the local clays, mineral paints and firing techniques. At that time, there were no potters in Mata Ortiz and Juan Quezada independently invented a pottery technology from trial and error. He had never had a pottery lesson nor had he ever seen a potter work.
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