Diego Valles was born in the Mexican border town of Palomas, Chihuahua, in July 1982, but he lived in Santa Rosa until he was twelve. His parents decided to move to Mata Ortiz in 1994 so he and his younger brother could further their studies. By then Valles had already made his first ollas, back when he was nine-years-old. In Mata Ortiz he just had to walk around his neighbors' and friends’ homes, where families were making vessels, to start learning pottery, specifically with the Mora Tena family.
Valles graduated from middle school in Mata Ortiz and from high school in Colonia Juarez, a Mormon town ten miles from Mata Ortiz. After that, he enrolled in electromechanical engineering at the Tecnológico Superior de Nuevo Casas Grandes and obtained his degree in 2005. He graduated with honors and studied for a year at the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia, as part of the Peace Scholarship Program, sponsored by the International Development Program Australia and the Public Education Secretariat in Mexico.
In 2006 he was invited to be part of the exhibition project Mata Ortiz: A Forty-Year Phenomenon organized by the American Museum of Ceramic Art in Pomona, California, and decided to devote his time completely to clay. Ever since, Valles has been expanding the limits not only of Mata Ortiz Ceramics, but also of traditional Mexican ceramics. In 2010 he was awarded The National Youth Award for Arts, which is Mexico’s highest honor to a young living artist, “for the combination of science, art, and excellence in the creation of his ceramics...”
Nicole Marroquin is an artist educator who explores spatial justice, belonging, and Chicago’s Latinx history through projects that decenter dominant narratives to address displacement and erasure.
Richard Nickel is an artist, educator, writer, and member of the Studio Potter advisory board. He has exhibited both nationally and internationally. He has been published in several books on contemporary ceramics and in art journals. As a designer, Nickel has created posters for Crafted Indie Arts and Crafts Market, a cover illustration for Studio Potter, ceramic awards for Skutt Kilns, illustrations for Alt Daily, and animations for WHRO HealthBeat. As a ceramic sculptor, he has pieces in numerous private collections. Nickel has designed and painted murals in Rochester, New York; Niagara Falls, New York; Norfolk, Virginia; and Virginia Beach, Virginia.
