Mexican Clay Makes a Pilgrimage to Minnesota

White Bear Center for the Arts is prepping to host the Mata Ortiz Pottery Sale again for the first time since its run in 2019. From September 18-21, renowned artists from the small village of Mata Ortiz, in the Northern state of Chihuahua, Mexico will display their pottery at WBCA for a special four-day sale. 

With bright, intricate pots decorated in earth-toned animals, nature, and geometric lines, Mata Ortiz pottery is known for its intricate designs. Its origins trace back to the ancient Paquimé civilization which flourished in Northern Mexico a thousand years ago. The pottery style was lost when the city was abandoned and destroyed.

It was revived by Juan Quezada Celado, a local woodcutter who, at 12 years old, came across ancient pottery shards while gathering wood in the hills. The shards came from Casas Grandes, now the archaeological site of a once thriving Paquimé city about 20 minutes from Mata Ortiz. For years after, he underwent the process of attempting to recreate and rediscover the ancient shapes and patterns. Juan and other villagers developed the distinctive style now known as Mata Ortiz using natural pigments and wild clay from the hills of Mata Ortiz.

In 1967, social anthropologist Spencer MacCallum stumbled upon one of Juan’s pots in a New Mexico shop and traced them back to Mata Ortiz. Spencer and his wife spent their lives creating a pottery marketplace in Mata Ortiz, introducing the work of Juan and eventually hundreds of other artists to the world. Since then, their work has gained international acclaim with pieces exhibited in museums across the globe and drawing the attention of art collectors worldwide.

White Bear Center for the Arts’ Mata Ortiz Sales Event marks a significant cultural exchange as Cesar Bugarini, a Mata Ortiz potter from Chihuahua, Mexico, and José Mario Jimenez, an art dealer and presenter of La Iguana Art Gallery in Tucson, Arizona, representing 37 Mata Ortiz artists congregate in White Bear Lake to share their heritage with a new audience. The sale features over 250 Mata Ortiz pots as well as artisanal textiles from the area. Each piece, crafted by hand without using a potter’s wheel, shows the expertise passed down through generations.

In addition to the pottery sale, the four-day event will include presentations of Mata Ortiz and its history by José and demonstrations by Cesar giving visitors the rare opportunity to watch a Mata Ortiz artist shape, paint, and fire a pot using traditional methods.

For art lovers, this is more than just a sale — it’s a cultural celebration that bridges borders and brings the rich traditions of Mata Ortiz to our own backyard.