Polychrome Jar

As a teenager, Juan Quezada found shards of Casas Grandes ceramics—like the other pots in this case—near his town Mata Ortiz, in the Chihuahua Desert in Mexico. He became inspired by the unusual rounded forms and black-and-red geometric compositions of this ancient style and taught himself to make similar vessels with modern aesthetics. His work gave rise to an entirely new ceramic tradition centered around Mata Ortiz. Today he is recognized as the father of Mata Ortiz ceramics, and many of his children and relatives now carry on his legacy.