Siege of Santa Fe, 2009
Diego Romero
terracotta 7 1/4 x 16 in. (18.4 x 40.6 cm)
Museum purchase with funds from the Boeckman Acquisition Fund
and the Clinton King Purchase Award, 2010
2010.21
Diego Romero was born in Berkley, CA and lives in Cochiti Pueblo, NM. His father is a Cochiti Pueblo Indian and his mother is Anglo. He studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts, the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, and at the University of California where he was making Native pots with Anasazi decoration painted in gold. This innovation was followed by another: he began to paint his pots with images drawn from ancient Greek vessels and other cultures whose heroes and values matched those of the Native American. Romero is one of the “Free Spirit” potters, whose work makes statements about contemporary Indian life, often crossing cultures and integrating classical figure style with that of the Native American.