Natalie Ortiz
Natalie Jauregui Ortiz is a Mexican-American artist from the Bay Area, CA. She creates paintings sourced from her experiences of intimacy – friends carrying dogs in bags, carnations in her grandmother’s bedroom, exes gazed post-car crash. Exhibitions include New Art Dealers Alliance (NYC), Mana Contemporary (Jersey City, NJ), and the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History (CA). She holds a BA from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She has previously worked closely with Art in Odd Places. She currently lives and paints in Brooklyn, NY.
Collect Bean: What does growth mean to you?
Natalie Ortiz: Change and movement are constant, while growth is acknowledging the change and seeing what has been, or what will be, learned. Not everything has a big lesson attached to it, unless you give it meaning too, but growth can be everywhere. It’s in the changing of the seasons, the movement of the sun, and waking up every day to new ideas or thoughts. Growth is everywhere, from the heights of our youths to the silvering of our hair to the rhythm and intentions of our paintbrushes.
Collect Bean: What does an ideal day in your studio look like?
Natalie Ortiz: Getting to the studio early so I can see the morning Southern sunshine through the studio window, and getting right into my routines. NPR, black tea with oat milk, and writing in my studio journal - getting my thoughts organized. Then going straight into work for the next 5-9 hours, with breaks here and there. Ideally, with little admin work (there’s always admin work to do), and lots of great tunes to help facilitate rhythm and movement in my work. A quick clean-up (no more than 30 minutes if I’m lucky), and leaving the space with work, regardless if finished or not, that is resolved and exciting.
Collect Bean: Where are you currently finding inspiration?
Natalie Ortiz: I’ve been reading Ninth Street Women, by Mary Gabriel, which has been changing my life. She provides so much context to such an illustrious history of the generation of New York City women abstract expressionist artists that I’ve been craving for a long time. At times, she will mention some of the romantics of being an artist - it’s all very inspiring. I wish we could all live more similarly to those times (minus the wars and discrimination of course), and pay double-digit rents. The book has given me lots to think about in terms of how I want to live as an artist, and knowledge in the standing I have as a New York City artist in this era.
Collect Bean: If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
Natalie Ortiz: Invest in Apple before Steve Job dies and crypto before it crashes. But also to try CBT therapy so much sooner - I think a lot of my worries and problems of the past, as I’m sure many can relate, were due to the capitalist & patriarchal forces telling me that I’m not enough. In reality, this is simply not the case.
Collect Bean: What is the kindest thing someone can tell you about your work?
Natalie Ortiz: I had a professor describe how when she was in college, she would take her paintings home to her father and he would say to her: “I don’t understand it, but I like it!” I think it would be great to hear this about my own work. :-)
