I have enjoyed learning about Virgil Ortiz from two different sources in the past week. First was from the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and their This Present Moment: Crafting a Better Future exhibition symposium, and the second was from the American Craft Council. From the Smithsonian American Art Museum website:

This Present Moment marks the fiftieth anniversary of SAAM’s Renwick Gallery as the nation’s premier museum dedicated to American craft. An anniversary acquisition campaign, begun in 2020, focused on artworks made by a broadly representative and diverse group of American artists and increased the number of Black, Latinx, Asian American, LGBTQ+, Indigenous and women artists, among others, represented in the nation’s collection. This Present Moment features 135 of these objects, on display at the Renwick Gallery for the first time.

I attended the Crafting a Better Future: The Renwick 50th Anniversary symposium online, and listened to about a dozen artists speak of their work. The first artist was Chochiti Pueblo potter Virgil Ortiz, and his portion of the symposium was one of my favorites. He is the first artist after the introductions.

Ortiz spoke of how his evolution as an artist is guided by his clay ancestors. He spoke of the creation of his work from gathering clay through firing. The Chochiti Pueblo is known for their storyteller figures, and Ortiz makes them, as well as pots. The traditional method of firing is one piece at a time, and he completes perhaps 15 pieces per year.

Designer Donna Karan worked with Ortiz for pieces in her Spring 2013 line, and she taught him about the fashion business. He further explored the art of body paint, then lithographs. He wrote a film script about the Pueblo revolt of 1680, where 46 Pueblos throughout New Mexico organized a rebellion and drove the Spanish conquistadors from their lands. The screenplay is titled Revolt 1680/2180:

‘I’ve been working on my script for over two decades now. It keeps evolving as I work in different parts of the world, meet new folks, experiment with various art forms, and grow as a person. I can tell you that the storyline is all based on the revolt happening simultaneously in two different time dimensions, 1680 and 2180. This allows me to tell our history with a sci-fi element/feature to it all. With each exhibition or collection unveiling, I release more details from the revolt saga.’ This world features a wide cast of characters: The historic Po’pay, Tahu and her Blind Archers, Venutian Soldiers, Aeronauts, Rez Spine Watchmen, Runners, Spirit World Army, Castilians, Stargazers, and more.

Media sponsorship of this Renwick symposium was done by the American Craft Council, and they wrote about Ortiz in the Spring 2023 issue of American Craft. This issue was the Vessel issue. In the feature article, “The Ceramist and the Superheroes,” author Claire Voon writes of Virgil Ortiz creating characters in clay who connect past and future and carry cultural traditions and knowledge.

On view until April 2 at the Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C., This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World would be an incredible collection of works to see.