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- Clay ReVOlution with Virgil Ortiz
Clay ReVOlution with Virgil Ortiz
Make a Runners & Gliders Face MaskĀ
Friday 5/3 - Sunday 5/5, 10am-6pm
Visionary and futurist Virgil Ortiz invites you into his world. Students will learn how Ortiz's work illustrates the historical events of the 1680 Pueblo Revolt by blending age-old traditional methods with contemporary clay techniques to a world 500 years after the revolt, in which time-travelers return to the present time to protect the Pueblos of the past, preserving and recording culture and traditions and carry them over to future generations. In 2008, Ortiz started writing a screenplay, Revolt 1680/2180, an epic tale he portrays through a series of works including vessels, busts, sculptures, and now live actors shaping the fantastical world he's creating with clay and multi-media art.
The course will focus on introducing the students to tools and techniques to evoke, explore, and manifest their own stories — adding ways to develop creativity and techniques by molding, scraping, and carving methods and finishing details by adding color with underglazes.
Program overview/schedule:
10AM – 6PM Daily
Day 1 (Friday 5/3):
- Morning: PowerPoint Presentation (45 minutes), followed by a Q & A.
- Afternoon: Demo of clay slabs; prep clay slabs; use mask press molds.
- Allow masks to set.
- Students can draw/sketch glaze ideas while the clay is setting.
- Begin to add personal details in clay.
Day 2 (Saturday 5/4):
- Morning: Continue with personal details and designs.
- Afternoon: Demo of my carving methods.
- Begin carving.
Day 3 (Sunday 5/5):
- Underglaze all day.
Tools, Materials, Finishing Processes:
- Clay and access to multiple underglaze colors are included in the workshop. Each participant will also receive a new Mayco soft fan brush to take with you.
- Participants should bring their own wire cutters, sponges, ribs, wooden knives, carving ribbon tools, sculpting tools, etc. Limited studio tools will be available to borrow. New tools are also available to purchase in the retail area at Burnish.
- Bisque firing of the completed pieces is included in the workshop.
- Glaze / high firing can be completed for non-Burnish participants for an additional fee.
- Participants traveling in for the class may take their pieces at the end of Day 3 to fire at their own studio.
About Virgil Ortiz:
Ortiz's works are exhibited in museum collections worldwide, including the Design Museum den Bosch, Fondation Cartier pour I'art contemporain, Triennale Milano, Smithsonian Institution, Denver Art Museum, Colby Museum of Art, Vladem Contemporary, and now bringing Indigenous futurism with Revolt 1680/2180: Sirens & Sikas to Los Angeles' Autry Museum of the American West this summer. This exhibition is part of PST ART: Art & Science Collide, presented by the Getty—a landmark event exploring the intersections of art and science, both past and present.
“The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 is a historic event that has little significance to most Americans unless they live in specific regions of the Southwest. I grew up hearing stories of the revolt from many Pueblo elders and historians. I was bewildered that hardly anyone seemed to have even heard of it as I traveled around the United States. Yet, when I would travel overseas, it was part of the cultural history, and people would question me about it.” —Virgil Ortiz