Aldavaz, Maria

María Elena Nena Lopéz Aldavaz is the wife of Macario Ortíz. Both grew up in the village of Mata Ortiz in northern Mexico and were present in the early days of the Paquimé Revival. Macario is one of the innovators of the black-on-graphite-black style of pottery. For the most part, Nena makes the pottery and he does the decorating, but she also makes a few pieces of her own. She doesn’t decorate them, relying only on their eye-appeal to sell.

In the early days, Nena did very well for herself, then other potters in the village started producing lesser quality knock-offs of her trademark styles. She said she was angry for a while, then she got over it. She still makes pots for her husband but not so many for herself any more.