Virgil Ortiz's Works At N.Y. National Museum Of American Indian, May 6

NEW YORK CITY

:An exhibition of the dynamic ceramic figures and fashion by Virgil Ortiz (Cochiti Pueblo) will open at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York, the George Gustav Heye Center, One Bowling Green, on May 6. "Virgil Ortiz: La Renaissace Indigene" will include an overview of the Cochiti figures that have influenced Ortiz, his various interpretations of this tradition and works from his fashion and design ventures, including the two of artist's collaborations with designer Donna Karan. The exhibition will close on September 24.

A conversation between Ortiz and Joe Baker (Delaware Tribe), the Lloyd Kiva new curator of fine art at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Ariz., will be held on Thursday, May 4, from 6 to 8 pm, in the collector's office. The program is free.

All of Ortiz's works feature his signature surface design, inspired by traditional Pueblo pottery, Maori warrior tattoo patterns, Art Nouveau fashion and his personal abstract writing script.

His ceramic figures are based on the large hollow standing figures of Pueblo folk art that were developed in the late 1800s and caricatured the circus performers traveling through the New Mexico territory. Experimenting with these traditional forms, Ortiz employs them to comment on contemporary society and current events. The exhibition will include nine ceramic figures and one mixed media depiction of a horse, as well as eight original couture works by Ortiz.

Ortiz has been making pottery since childhood, an has been honored by several awards at The Heard Museum's Annual Guild Indian Fair and Market. His work has appeared at the New Mexico Museum of Fine Arts; the American Craft Museum, New York; the Foundation Cartier Pout l'Art Contemporain, Paris; and at the Garth Clark Gallery, New York. Another solo exhibition of his work, "Free Spirit," will open in May at the Museum Het Kruithuis, Hertogenbosch, in The Netherlands.

The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian is free and open every day from 10 am to 5 pm and on Thursday until 8 pm. For information, 212-514-3700 or www.americanindian.si.edu.