Nicolas Quezada

Mata Ortiz

Nicolas Quezada Celado is Juan Quezada's younger brother. Juan taught him to pot while Juan was still learning himself. In the late 1970s Nicolas took on the job of discovering new sources of clay, finding new tempers to use and working on new polishing techniques. He was also one of the first potters in Mata Ortiz to build a secador (a drying tank) to remove the water from clay suspensions, a technique used by all Mata Ortiz potters now. He discovered that very precise portions of different colored clays when mixed produced colors that single clays could not. He also discovered that polishing a dried clay surface with a unique combination of water and oil would produce various shades of color.

Nicolas paints his designs in the Quezada style with lines that flow from top to bottom in sweeping arcs. He almost never works with blackware. He's traveled extensively in the United States doing exhibits and pottery-making demonstrations.


Geometric design on a polychrome jar
A polychrome jar decorated with a geometric design
13.25 in H by 12.75 in Dia
Measurement includes stand

Mata Ortiz/Casas Grandes Potters