Over the decades Tom Tresser has collected a massive amount of data, stories, reports, and evidence of the power of the arts to build communities, to save lives, to enrich democracy, and to lift us up. Perhaps one of the most amazing is the story of the Mexican potter Juan Quezada (1940-2022) of the northern village of Mata Ortiz. His re-discovery of lost ancestral pottery materials, methods, and designs have literally saved his community. Watch this 8 minute video:
JUAN QUEZADA (1940-2022)
My name is Juan Quezada (kay-sah-da). My story is strange but true. I am a artisan who has been credited with saving my village, Mata Ortiz (Mah-ta Or-teeze), from poverty and neglect.
My village is in northern Mexico in the desert area of Chihuahua (Chee-wah-wah). Our region is not prosperous and many villages were abandoned after the timber industry went away. I have been many things – a farm worker, a railroad hand and even a boxer!
One day, when I was a very young man, I was gathering firewood in the hills and I came across a cave. This cave held treasures not seen by anyone for hundreds of years. These treasures were the pots made by my ancestors, the Casa Grandes (kasa gran-dez) people. I was very moved by the beauty of these pots. How were they made? How did they make the wonderful designs? I decided to learn how to make pots like this using the materials from the earth. It took me many years to discover how to make these pots by hand. I don’t use a potter’s wheel. All the materials come from around here.
I taught eight of my ten brothers and sisters and many of my neighbors how to make pots. I did this because I remembered a proverb my mother told me. “You don’t give fish to the needy, you teach them how to fish.” I gave everyone a piece of clay and told them you will learn how to make pottery. “But Juan, it’s impossible,” they said, “We’ll never be able to do it!” But I didn’t pay attention to that and now four hundred artists live and work in Mata Ortiz, in a place with not even two thousand people total. Everyone has their own style and they work for many days on a single pot – using a brush made from a single hair of a child for the intricate detailing.
Many of my pots are in the collections of museums and in the homes of the wealthy all over the world. Some of my smaller works sell for $9,000.00 – that’s U.S. dollars – each. Collectors come from all over to our village to purchase work. And it’s hard to get to. You must come by car for many hours as we do not an airport.
I was very proud to have been awarded that the National Arts and Sciences Medal, the highest honor a Mexican artist can receive. Our President, Ernesto Zedillo, presented me with this honor in 1999. I was also moved when a very wonderful children’s book was published about my work, “The Pot That Juan Built.”
I’m a little embarrassed, but also happy, that a corridos, or ballad, has been composed about me. Part of it says “All of Chihuahua wants to give you thanks. Gracias. To our great teacher, our friend, Juan Quezada.” The important thing is that people in our village are happy. They no longer have to leave their hometown to find jobs. Their work is here with their families. We will pass this work on to our children and our grandchildren for their futures, for the future of Mata Ortiz.
