Check Out Tony Ortega’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tony Ortega. 

Hi Tony, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
As a part of the Chicano movement, my artwork began in 1982 after I finished my art studies at Rocky Mountain School of Art. I began creating art based on my experiences as a Mexican American. My family is originally from small village in northern New Mexico but I split my time between there and Denver, Colorado. I spent many summers with my maternal grandmother in the little village of Pecos, NM. She is the person who has influenced me the most in who I am. Her first language was Spanish, she was a very devout Catholic and loving mother figure. She was a very creative person, sharing our oral history, incredible seamstress, and wonderful cook in a Northern New Mexico tradition. 

I hold a Master of Fine Arts degree, 1995 and a Bachelor of Arts degree, 1980 from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and an associated degree from the Rocky Mountain School of Art, 1982. Since 2003, I have been a professor at Regis University a small Jesuit liberal arts school. I have taught painting, drawing, printmaking, design, and a variety of related lecture courses. Before my employment at Regis University, and for over 20 years, I was a self-employed working artist creating and exhibiting my acrylic paintings, pastel drawings, community murals, and fine art prints. 

Since becoming a full-time professor, I have dedicated a great deal of my time to teaching at Regis University. But I believe that professors who are engaged in their creative work enhance their teaching, providing quality education for their students. My research interests include exploring historical and contemporary issues of Chicano culture and identity. My long-term goals as an artist are to create images that are personal and culturally meaningful. I am very active as an image-maker and exhibit my artwork regionally, nationally, and internationally. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I awake every morning in the northwest Denver, I physically, emotionally, and spiritually live between the clash of two cultures one Mexican and the American. This fact is my daily dilemma. I must traverse an imaginary border not the border between Mexican and U.S that was created for the separation of two nation-states, but the border between two cultures. Here on the north side, the northern frontier of Aztlan, the outpost of Latin American, lays my passage from north to south. I must deal with a dominant culture whose history is from east to west. On this journey, I must think from: Spanish to English, community to capitalism, and family to individual and back again, my journey is not unique. But many in the Chicano community must deal with duality. 

This duality has created challenges in my life as well as my artistic carrier. As a creative person living and working in a capitalist society, it is very puzzling that my work is not always valued. But then adding a layer of identity as an artist of color, it becomes more complicated, trying to negotiate my place in the art world. I understand that this issue is mixed and I can feel frustrated, but I have to overcome these obstacles in my life, by working hard, and moving forward as best I can. My hope is that my artwork can help break some barriers and obstacles in the world. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
In the last 39 years, I have created a significant body of artwork in variety of media. My artwork has been reproduced in magazines, catalogs, and books. Here is a shortlist of publications my artwork has been included: Southwest Art Magazine, July 1989; “Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Art”, 2002, Bilingual Press, Hispanic Research Center, Arizona State University; “Chicano Art for Our Millennium”, 2004, Bilingual Press, Hispanic Research Center, Arizona State University; “Leading the West: One Hundred Contemporary Painters and Sculptors” by Donald J. Hagerty, Published by Northland Publishing, 1997; and in the catalog “The View from Denver Contemporary American Art from the Denver Art Museum” 1997. 

My work has been collected by museums, art spaces, local and state governments as well as business and individual collectors. Here is a short list of institutions who have my work in their collections: Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO; Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Museo Estudio Diego Rivera, Mexico City; Colorado Council on the Arts, Denver, Colorado; Center for the American West, University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado; Denver, CO; Hispanic Research Center, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona; La Salle University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; University of Denver Library, Special Collections and Archives, Denver, CO; University of Texas, San Antonio, TX; Western History Department of the Denver Public Library, Denver, CO; The Regional and Contemporary Collection of the Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center, Pueblo, CO; Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; Student Union Building, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM; Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico; National Hispanic Cultural Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico, City and County of Denver, Denver, CO; and the Colorado Springs Fine Art Center, Colorado Springs, CO. 

In 2018, I was recognized by Regis University as the faculty lecture of the Year. In 1999, I received the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Art from the State of Colorado, The Governor’s Award is presented in recognition of significant contributions to the arts through creative accomplishment or distinguished service, the awards underscore the vital role the arts play in Colorado’s culture and heritage. In 1998, I received the Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, from the City and County of Denver, the mayor of Denver annually recognizes individuals and organizations that make significant and lasting contributions to the artistic, cultural, and creative landscape in the City and County of Denver. 

During the winter of 2015, the Smithsonian Archives of American Art requested and collected many of my professional papers such as letters, interviews, reviews, announcements, children’s books, catalogs, newspaper, and magazine clippings, etc. More information can be found at the following link, http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/tony-ortega-papers-16300. 

For the past 30 years, I have work with schools, community organizations, art spaces, and museums in the creation of community murals to further develop my philosophical belief that art belongs to everyone, not just the wealthy, art galleries, and museums. Community murals are not created for “art’s sake”, but rather give a community the skills necessary to maintain this art form. The mural process encourages participants of different ages and socioeconomic backgrounds to collaborate, develop friendships, and learn from each other while developing their art skills 

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
Like many other artists, all my exhibits were postponed, canceled, or closed to the public. In those challenging times, when anxiety, uncertainty, and insecurity I found small glimpses of good things. I reconnected with the artist in me with all my creative energy and focused on working in the studio and spending time with my wife and son. Thanks to social distancing and the introvert in me, it was a mixed blessing. I finished older work that needed touch-ups, I created some online workshops for my Regis students and started some new artwork.  I paid attention to the magnificence in humanity as well as the unpleasantness in the world. I remind myself, every single day, that both are at once omnipresent and real. I did take protections, but I did not put neither my inner life nor outer life on hold. Today, I wake up grateful every day–for my wife, my son, my family, my friends, and my students and I am sending out my sorrow, my concern, my love, to them all. I act like this, as opposed to being overwhelmed and busy and distracted every day, is a new way of life for me, truly a new foundation. 

Pricing:

• Pastel drawings $1000 – $2200
• Acrylic paintings $1000 -$6000
• hand-colored etchings $300 – $600
• silkscreens prints $600 – $800
• community murals $3500 and up plus materials

Contact Info:

• Email: tortegaartist@cs.com
• Website: tonyortega.net
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tonyortega1574/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anthony.ortega1/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1iinhXJQO8&t=2s
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENoCetvhdLw&t=14s