Cochiti Pueblo Drum Painted by Virgil Ortiz [SOLD]

This pueblo drum was obviously new at the time we first sold it in 1989 and we were probably not impressed at that time by the note written in ink on the drum that states “Cochiti Pueblo painted by Virgil Ortiz, 1989.”  Virgil was 20 years old at that time and had not established himself as the artist he has become.  To us, he was probably just the son of Seferina Ortiz, a potter from whom we purchased storyteller figurines and nacimientos.  How things have changed.

The gallery originally purchased the drum from Cochiti drum maker Ray Gallegos.  I do not know why Gallegos had Virgil paint the drum, but glad that Virgil made the note on the drum that he had painted it.

Condition: this Cochiti Pueblo Drum Painted by Virgil Ortiz is in excellent condition

Provenance: from the collection of John Barry to whom we sold it in 1989.

Recommended Reading: RAIN - Native Expressions from the American Southwest by Ann Marshall

Artist Image (right) of Virgil Ortiz courtesy of Rick Dillingham - Fourteen Families In Pueblo Pottery.