Experience the fascinating art of Virgil Ortiz, the Saddleback Art Gallery's artist in residence for Fall 2023.
Our gallery will serve as a hub for showcasing Ortiz's collaborations with students, visual storytelling, and as a space for discussions and discourse regarding the 1680 Pueblo Revolt. The exhibition offers insight into Ortiz's artistic journey and how his ongoing futuristic narrative is raising awareness of native history and culture.
Click here to reserve FREE tickets through Eventbrite
(Ticket is valid for all gallery dates. See hours below.).
Gallery Hours: Tuesday through Friday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., (or by appointment)
Opening Reception: Thursday, October 26 from 4 to 8 p.m.
About the Artist:
Virgil Ortiz moves into a new era combining art, décor, fashion, video, and film. One of the most innovative potters of his time, Ortiz’s exquisite works have been exhibited in museum collections around the world including the Stedelijk Museum- Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands; Paris’s Foundation Cartier pour I’art Contemporain; the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian; the Virginia Museum of Fine Art; and the Denver Art Museum.
Ortiz, the youngest of six children, grew up in a creative environment in which storytelling, collecting clay, gathering wild plants, and producing figurative pottery was part of everyday life.His grandmother Laurencita Herrera and his mother, Seferina Ortiz, were both renowned Pueblo potters and part of an ongoing matrilineal heritage. “I didn’t even know it was art that was being produced while I was growing up,” he remembers. Ortiz keeps Cochiti pottery traditions alive but transforms them into a contemporary vision that embraces his Pueblo history and culture and merges it with apocalyptic themes, science fiction, and his own storytelling.