The hero in this story starts out as a young twelve year old boy, who with the family burro, roamed the hills surrounding a struggling village in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. Mata Ortiz had at one time been a lumber town, but the mill closed in about 1910. Work was very scarce, and consisted of labor on the railroad or in orchards in nearby towns, or herding cattle. These jobs paid but a few dollars a day to those lucky enough to get them.

Like all of the little boys in this dwindling village, Juan Quezada was poor. He did what he could to help his family survive. Juan went out each day in search of sticks and deadfall that could be bundled and sold as firewood. He looked for wild honey and edible cactus that could be harvested and sold. In his daily searches Juan Quezada sometimes stumbled upon pottery sherds, and, rarely, whole pots from pre-Columbian peoples that had once inhabited the nearby Paquimé ruins. These ancients, like other Pueblo peoples in the region, were experts in the production and painting of beautiful pottery.

Ingeniously curious, Juan thought a lot about these remnants left in the dust by a people long extinct. Where did they get the clay? What about the colors painted on these works of ancient art? How did the surfaces become so smooth. Why did these earthen forms last so long? One by one, over his growing up years, Juan Quezada answered for himself each of these questions. First he discovered sites where clay was mined hundreds of years ago. Then, through years of experimentation and persistent trial and error, he pieced together the puzzle of ancient technology used by the creators of these pre-Columbian vessels.

In hind site we can see that Juan Quezada, (now in his late sixties), is a technical and artistic genius. He is the man behind the renaissance of this ancient pottery art, and the man, who by sharing his knowledge with family and fellow villagers, turned a dying village called Mata Ortiz, into a comparatively thriving and influential economic center.

In 1976 anthropologist Spencer MacCallum wandered into a junk store in southern New Mexico and found something that immediately caught his eye. This chance discovery changed not only the world of ceramics, but also the fortune of Juan Quezada, his family, and fellow villagers.

Among the usual junk in a typical junk store, three ceramic pots caught Spencer's eye. The pots appeared perfectly symmetrical with an amazingly balanced geometric design painted in red and black. The clay walls were surprisingly thin and light. His first impression was that these were prehistoric, but the store-owner assured him they weren't old; some poor people had traded them for second hand clothes. Despite the fact that the pots were not ancient, Spencer was impressed with their artistic characteristics. Why were these impressive works of art in a junk store? Spencer MacCallum couldn't get this question out of his mind.

One month later he returned to New Mexico, and began a search that brought him over about 150 miles of rough Chihuahua terrain, to the town of Nuevo Casas Grandes, and finally to the remote village of Mata Ortiz, to the door of Juan Quezada, at the time in his mid thirties.

Juan Quezada was surprised that anyone would be so interested in his work. Today his pots sell for as high as $19,000 and are displayed in museums around the world.

Juan Quezada shared his good fortune by patiently teaching all of his interested family members, extended family, and neighbors. Once having learned the trade, each potter willingly shares his knowledge with aspiring artists in the village.

Today it is estimated that there are over 400 artists in Mata Ortiz. Out of a population of 3500 to 4500, that means the percentage of the adult population involved in the pottery trade is very high.

Using clay locally dug from the surrounding hills, the potters of Mata Ortiz create this art entirely by hand, even without the use of a pottery wheel. The pottery is painted with home fashioned brushes often made from a single strand of a child's hair. The firing is low temperature, outdoors, often using cow chips or cottonwood as fuel. Much of the pottery is highly burnished with bone or stone.

Second and third generation potters are now evolving the art to even higher standards of excellence and variety, keeping this amazing art movement alive. Art lovers around the world also breathe life into Mata Ortiz as they continue to acquire these highly collectible treasures.