Laura Ortman facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Laura Ortman
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Laura Ortman plays May 27, 2023 at the Basilica Hudson as part of the 24-Hour Drone concert.
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| Born | July 17, 1973 Whiteriver, Arizona, United States
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| Education | University of Kansas |
| Known for | Experimental music |
Laura Ortman is an amazing American musician. She was born in Whiteriver, Arizona, and now lives in Brooklyn, New York City. Laura mixes music with visual art. Her unique work has even been shown in famous art shows like the Whitney Biennial.
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Early Life and Learning
Laura Ortman was born in Whiteriver, Arizona. She was adopted as a baby and grew up in Alton, Illinois. Laura came from a very musical family. Her mother, Terri Ortman, played the piano. She also managed a youth orchestra for 20 years.
Laura's sister played the flute and harp. Her brother played the french horn. Her grandmother, Mrs. Hummer, was a symphony violinist. She played in Des Moines, Iowa. Laura says her grandmother helped her love classical music. She introduced her to famous composers like Sibelius, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky. As a teenager, Laura played in the St. Louis Youth Symphony.
Laura is a member of the White Mountain Apache tribe. In 2001, she reconnected with her birth family in Arizona. This happened just before the 9/11 attacks in New York. Laura was living in New York at that time. It was also seven months before her adopted mother, Terri Ortman, passed away.
Laura studied at the University of Kansas. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree there. She learned about drawing, painting, sculpture, and performance art.
In 1997, Laura moved to New York City. She started making improvisational music for modern dancers. Soon, the Native American community in New York noticed her talent. Even though Laura lives in busy Brooklyn, she loves nature. She enjoys walks in Prospect Park. She also likes hiking and camping in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York.
Laura Ortman's Music Career
Laura Ortman performs by herself and works with other artists. She creates recorded albums, live shows, and music for films. Laura has worked with many artists. Some of them include Nanobah Becker, Martin Bisi, and Raven Chacon.
Laura plays many instruments. She plays Apache style violin, piano, and electric guitar. She also uses keyboards, pedal steel guitar, and sings. She has even made special "field recordings." These are sounds recorded from nature or real places.
Her Unique Style
Laura's music is strongly connected to visual art. Before moving to New York, she tried to create art about feeling alone. She said, "I used to try to create painting and installation work about being isolated."
Then, she started making her own music for these art pieces. She wanted to "fill them up" with sound. Finally, she realized that sound was what truly moved her. She describes her music as "sculpting sound." This means she shapes sounds like a sculptor shapes clay.
Bands Laura Has Been In
Laura Ortman has been part of several musical groups:
- In 2008, Laura started the Coast Orchestra. This was an all-Native American orchestra. They played live music for an old silent film. The film was called In the Land of the Head Hunters (1914). It was special because it was the first silent movie to star only Native American actors.
- In Defense of Memory
- Stars Like Fleas
- The Dust Dive
- The Christian Nightmares Tribulation Band
Major Performances and Shows
Laura Ortman has performed in many important places. These include:
- The 2019 Whitney Biennial
- The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival
- The Whitney Museum of American Art
- The National Museum of the American Indian
- The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
- MoMA P.S. 1
- Centre Pompidou in Paris, France
- Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal in Canada
- SF MoMA in San Francisco
- The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City
Jerome Foundation Project
In 2017, Laura Ortman received $20,000 from the Jerome Foundation. She used this money to create a special project. It was called an "Indigenous New York City Walking Soundtrack."
This project was like a "collaborative collage." It mixed spoken words, songs, and sounds from the city. It also included movement, air, whispers, and the general atmosphere. Laura wanted to capture a changing and personal Native American experience in New York. She used a special mobile recording unit to record sounds from different places.
Awards and Grants
Laura Ortman has received several awards and grants for her work:
- 2017 Jerome Foundation Fellowship
- 2016 Art Matters Foundation Grant
- 2016 National Artist Fellowship from the Native Arts and Culture Foundation
- 2015 IAIA's Museum of Contemporary Native Arts Social Engagement Resident
- 2014–2015 Rauschenberg Foundation Residency
- FIRST NATIONS COMPOSERS INITIATIVE Common Ground Award Grant
