Diego Romero (artist) facts for kids

Diego Romero (born 1964) is a famous American artist from the Cochiti Pueblo tribe. He is well-known for making amazing pottery and ceramics. Today, he lives in New Mexico.

About Diego Romero

Diego Romero was born in Berkeley, California in 1964. His father, Santiago Romero, was a Cochiti Pueblo Indian. His mother, Nellie Guth, was from Berkeley. Diego grew up in Berkeley, but he spent his summer breaks with his grandparents at the pueblo in Cochiti, New Mexico.

Diego's father was a traditional painter. Even though he had lost a hand, he continued to create art. When Diego was young, he sometimes found it hard to connect with his tribe. But the Cochiti council honored him. They gave him the right to live on his grandfather's land.

Diego's brother, Mateo Romero, is also a well-known painter. Diego's wife, Cara Romero, is a famous photographer. Art runs in their family!

Diego's Art Career

Diego Romero is a third-generation artist from the Cochiti Pueblo. He mostly creates pottery, but he also does printmaking. He even worked with another talented artist, Nathan Begaye, who was a Navajo–Hopi ceramicist.

After high school, Diego went to art school in California. He then studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe. After one year, he moved to the Otis Parsons School of Design in Los Angeles. There, he earned his first art degree. In 1993, he earned his master's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.

What Makes His Art Special?

Diego Romero's pottery is unique. He mixes traditional Cochiti Pueblo ceramics with things he loves. These include comic books, superheroes, ancient mythology, and pop culture. He uses the old ways of coiling clay, just like his ancestors. But he adds his own modern images and painting styles.

He likes to call himself a "chronologist on the absurdity of human nature." This means he tells stories about how funny and strange people can be. He gets ideas from ancient Ancestral Pueblo and Mimbres ceramics. He also looks at Greek pots and modern pop culture.

In the 1990s, Diego became very famous for his "Chongo Brothers" series. These were colorful clay pots. A chongo is a Native man from the Southwest who wears his hair in a traditional bun. Some of the characters on his pots look like figures from old Greek paintings. They often show strong, muscular bodies.

Diego's artwork has been shown all over the world. In 2006, a collection of his pieces toured Europe. You can find his art in galleries in New York and Santa Fe, like the Robert Nichols Gallery.

Where to See His Art

Diego Romero's amazing artwork is part of many important collections around the world. Here are some places where you can see his pieces:

• British Museum, London, England, UK
• Cartier Foundation, Paris, France
• Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ
• Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY: His Dough Bowl from 1994 is here.
• Muscarelle Museum of Art, Williamsburg, VA
• National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC: His She-Wana's Dream from 2008 is here.
• National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
• New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM
• Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA
• Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Brown University, Providence, RI

See also

• List of Native American artists