Daisy Quezada Ureña (born 1990) is an American visual artist and educator. She was born in California and is based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. [1] [2] Informed through her Mexican-American cultural background, Quezada addresses social issues including immigration, gender inequality, labor, and class issues. [2] She creates ceramic and fabric works and installations that speak on themes of identity and place in relation to social structures and imposed borders. [2]
Quezada was born in California and spent her childhood in Mexico where her family is from. [1] She moved back to the United States where her family intended for her and her two sisters to attend school. [1] Quezada enrolled on a tennis scholarship to the College of Santa Fe which then became the Santa Fe University of Art and Design (SFUAD) during her second year, and received her BFA focusing on sculpture and ceramics. [1] She continued her education, receiving MFA at University of Delaware, with full scholarship. [1]
Quezada moved back to Santa Fe in 2014 where she is currently living and working. [1] Since then, she has worked at SFUAD in various roles, exhibited in major shows regionally and internationally, completed a residency at Santa Fe Art Institute, and received a Fulcrum Fund grant. She has engaged with public school students throughout this time, gathering garments and stories. [1]
Quezada has also worked alongside non-for-profit organizations such as El Otro Lado/The Other Side and Downtown Aurora Visual Arts that bring art to youth at a local level. [2] In 2016 Quezada was one of the cofounders of Present Cartographers, a collective invested in creating a platform for artists working within the theme of immigration. Most recently the collective launched Terreno: Borderland Linguistics, a chapbook of writing and visual work by ten national and international artists. [10]