This is a provocative canteen by Virgil Ortiz.  The piece is coil built and painted with native clay slips and wild spinach (a plant) for the black.  The front of the canteen is painted with one of Virgi’s iconic images.  The figure is one of the “Ventuian Soldiers”.  In the book, “Revolt”, I wrote about these as follows:

In the summer of 2012 Ortiz premiered his “Venutian Soldiers’.   The story of the Pueblo Revolt was becoming more evolved and Ortiz was able to have fun developing more background for his characters and the events before the Revolt 2180. “I have created Native Superheroes in the form of clay, photography, video and film, which allows me the freedom to express my personal interpretation of the REVOLT – The First American Revolution.  The Venutian Soldiers are futurist, herculean superheroes, over eight feet tall, who fight mainly at nighttime and possess extraordinary strength and magical powers”.  Here the Venutian Soldiers reflect the destruction of pueblos by the Spanish during their original conquest. In their future version, it is the Castilians who have destroyed their ‘world’ and the Venutian Soldiers are the embodiment of this devastation. Their environment has been destroyed through nuclear weapons causing the Venutian Soldiers to use oxygen tanks and gas masks to survive. This story is a thoughtful embodiment of a world overrun and the natural order destroyed yet survivable by the sense of “Pueblo community”.  The Venutians are lead by Tahu and Kootz to find a hospitable land and “rebuild their traditions and ways of life on ancestral sacred lands”.

The combination of figures reacting to the environment and water issues, and the form being a canteen, was not lost on Virgil in making this piece.  The figure is surrounded by floral designs and wildflower designs on the back.  Note as well the “spirit line” which is a space in the painting on the rim.   Virgil has also incorporated his signature “x”, which is the turkey track, onto the front of the canteen. The piece is signed on the back.  The use of traditional and contemporary imagery has become a standard for Virgil’s pottery as he pushes the boundaries of contemporary Native clay. His work can be found in museums worldwide, including the Fondation Cartier in Paris, the Heard Museum, the Denver Art Museum and more.