Elicena Cota

Mata Ortiz

Elicena Cota Lopez is a potter from the northern Mexico village of Mata Ortiz. She seems to like making black or gray pots with multi-color slipped designs within sgraffito designs within sgraffito designs... Her motifs tend to be natural: insects, birds, lizards, plants.

Elicena was born in 1979 and, as a second generaton Mata Ortiz potter, grew up watching pottery being made all around her. By the time she was 17, she was already established in the marketplace. A few years later she married Efrain Lucero Jr., another fine potter. Sometimes they work together, sometimes they don't. Elicena's designs and techniques make her pottery stand out from the crowd.

I know she's earned other awards but at the 2013 Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Show she took home ribbons for Third Place in Best of Show and Second Place in the Traditional Black Category.

Sgraffito and painted designs on a black jar
Black jar with slipped designs within sgraffito designs, ie: colored sections of lizards within sgraffito designs
4.5 in H by 4.25 in Dia
Measurement includes stand
Sgraffito hummingbird and floral motif on a black jar
Black jar with sgraffito and painted hummingbird and floral motif
4.25 in H by 4 in Dia
Measurement includes stand
Dragonfly motif on a polychrome jar
Polychrome jar with a dragonfly motif
6.75 in H by 6.75 in Dia
Measurement includes stand
Sgraffito and painted parrot and branch design on a polychrome jar
Polychrome jar with sgraffito and painted parrot and branch design
4.25 in H by 5 in Dia
Measurement includes stand
Sgraffito and painted parrot and branch design on a polychrome jar
Polychrome jar with sgraffito and painted parrot and branch design
6.25 in H by 6.25 in Dia
Measurement includes stand
Bird and tree branch motif on a polychrome jar
Polychrome jar with bird and tree branch motif
6.5 in H by 6.25 in Dia
Sgraffito and painted hummingbird and tree branch design on a polychrome jar
Polychrome jar with sgraffito and painted hummingbird and tree branch design
4.25 in H by 4 in Dia
Measurement includes stand
Sgraffito and painted dragonfly and geometric motif on a polychrome jar
Polychrome jar decorated with a sgraffito and painted dragonfly and geometric motif
4.5 in H by 6.5 in Dia
Sgraffito and painted bird, tree branch and geometric designs decorate a polychrome jar
Polychrome jar decorated with sgraffito and painted bird, tree branch and geometric designs
6.75 in H by 4.75 in Dia
Measurement includes stand
Sgraffito and painted tree branches and dragonflies motif on a polychrome jar
Polychrome jar decorated with a sgraffito and painted dragonflies and tree branches motif
3.25 in H by 5.25 in Dia
Sgraffito and painted lizard and geometric design on a polychrome jar
Polychrome jar with sgraffito and painted lizard and geometric design
5 in H by 6.25 in Dia
Sgraffito and painted dragonfly, branch and geometric design on a polychrome jar
Polychrome jar with sgraffito and painted branch, dragonfly and geometric design
4.25 in H by 4 in Dia
Measurement includes stand
Sgraffito and painted parrot and branch design on a poychrome jar
Polychrome jar with sgraffito and painted parrot and branch design
4.5 in H by 4.25 in Dia
Measurement includes stand
Parrot and branches motif on a polychrome jar
Polychrome jar decorated with a parrot and branches motif
4.25 in H by 4.75 in Dia
Measurement includes stand
Sgraffito and painted parrot and branches motif on a polychrome jar
Polychrome jar decorated with a sgraffito and painted parrot and branches motif
4.25 in H by 5 in Dia
Sgraffito and painted hummingbird, flower and branch design on a poychrome jar
Polychrome jar with sgraffito and painted hummingbird, flower and branch design
3.25 in H by 5.25 in Dia

Mata Ortiz/Casas Grandes Potters