"With the money saved I would take a friend and we would travel to different cities -- New York, Chicago, Los Angeles -- and I got to experience different cultures."
According to the Colorado Springs Fine Art Center, his inspiration vastly comes from Star Wars as he often ditches pottery markets to further expand his love of sci-fi modernism.
"For nearly two decades, Virgil Ortiz has told the story of the 1680 Pueblo Revolt through his artwork, and simultaneously makes it more relevant and engaging to the next generation by using contemporary art to blend historic events with sci-fi fantasy – think Star Wars, Prometheus, The Avengers, and Justice League.
During the early days of the transcontinental railroad, Cochiti artists caricatured the travelers—circus performers, salesmen, and adventurers— who suddenly appeared in their world.
Those crazier pieces and the tradition of pottery as social commentary really leave the board wide open for me as an artist."
[8] Around 1984, Bob Gallegos, an Albuquerque collector, showed the young Ortiz his collection of 1800s Cochiti pottery.
[1] For a 2003 collaboration with designer Donna Karan, he developed boldly patterned textiles based on his graphic decorative painting.
[8] In 2017, Ortiz collaborated with Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in designing jewelry pieces inspired by Cochiti art forms.