Romero, Diego

Diego Romero is a potter from Cochiti Pueblo. He was born in Berkeley, CA in 1964, and grew up there. He returned to the pueblo in the summers but says with his city ways, he didn’t really fit in. Eventually, though, he asked and the Cochiti Tribal Council granted him the right to live on his grandfather’s property.

Diego attended the Institute of American Indian Arts, graduating with an AFA in 1986. He learned to make pottery there, taught by Hopi potter Otellie Loloma.

From the IAIA Diego went to Otis Parsons School of Design and graduated with a BFA in 1990. Then he went to the University of California, Los Angeles and earned his MFA.

Diego returned to Cochiti in 1993 and entered a bowl to be judged in the Santa Fe Indian Market. He earned a Third Place ribbon for that. That began a long string of Best in Class, Best of Division, First, Second and Third Place ribbons at Santa Fe Indian Market and at the Heard Museum Guild Indian Art Fair & Market in Phoenix.

Diego developed a “Chongo Brothers” series of designs in which he used powerful symbols to make comments on aspects of contemporary Native American life. A chongo is a Southwest Native man who wears his hair in a traditional bun.

Some of the characters in Diego’s work are reflective of a Greek painting style portraying idealized, Olympian bodies. His characters are drawn from a mix of mythology, comic book superheroes and pop culture. Diego’s work explores gender politics, sexuality and the multifaceted identities of Native people. In everything, his work overlays the contemporary perspective on the prehistoric one.

Diego’s work can be seen at the British Museum in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Cartier Foundation in Paris, the National Museum of Scotland, the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC, the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA, the Heard Museum in Phoenix, AZ, and the New Mexico Museum of Art.

Diego is married to award-earning Chemehuevi photographer Cara Romero.

Some Exhibits that featured works by Diego

  • Diego Romero vs. the End of Art. Museum of Indian Arts and Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology. Santa Fe, New Mexico. October 6, 2019 – January 2, 2021
  • Seeds of Being: a Project of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Native American Art & Museum Studies Seminar. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. Norman, Oklahoma. June 12, 2018 – December 30, 2018. Note: features 35 artworks from the James T. Bialac Native American Art Collection and the Rennard Strickland Collection of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art; exhibiting artists include Linda Lomahaftewa, Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie, T.C. Cannon, Fritz Scholder, Bob Haozous, Jeffrey Gibson, Tony Abeyta, Cannupa Hanska Luger, and Amanda Lucario among others. Accompanied by a catalog
  • Catch 22: Paradox on Paper. Ralph T. Coe Foundation for the Arts. Santa Fe, New Mexico. August 12, 2017 – March 31, 2018. Note: group show curated by Nina Sanders and based on the Edward J. Guarino Collection. Accompanied by an exhibition catalog
  • Beauty Speaks for Us. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. February 10, 2017 – March 31, 2017
  • Beautiful Games: American Indian Sport and Art. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. December 20, 2014 – November 29, 2015
  • Native Art Now – Zeitgenössische Indigene Kunst aus Nordamerika. Nordamerika Native Museum. Zurich, Switzerland. November 8, 2014 – June 7, 2015. Note: exhibiting artists include Nicholas Galanin, Shan Goshorn, Jeff Kahm, Cannupa Hanska Luger, Sonya Kelliher-Combs, Gina Adams, Ross Chaney, Michael Belmore, Frank Shebageget, Diego Romero, David Bradley, Chris Pappan, Will Wilson, Maria Hupfield, Jason Garcia, and Wally Dion. Accompanied by catalog
  • Chocolate, Chili & Cochineal: Changing Taste Around the World. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. February 16, 2013 – July 27, 2014
  • Pop! Popular Culture in American Indian Art. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. April 16, 2010 – April 10, 2011
  • War Paint. Institute of American Indian Arts Museum. Santa Fe, NM. October 12, 2007 – January 13, 2008
  • Choices and Change: American Indian Artists in the Southwest. Heard Museum North. Scottsdale, Arizona. June 20, 2007 – April 2012
  • Home: Native People in the Southwest. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. 2005
  • 40th Anniversary Exhibit. Institute of American Indian Arts Museum. Santa Fe, New Mexico. September 20, 2002 – January 19, 2003
  • Hold Everything! Masterworks of Basketry and Pottery from the Heard Museum. Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona. November 1, 2001 – March 10, 2002
  • An Inaugural Gift: The Founder’s Circle Collection. Mint Museum of Craft + Design. Charlotte, North Carolina. February 26, 2000 – September 17, 2000
  • New Mexico 2000. Museum of Fine Arts. Santa Fe, New Mexico. October 8, 1999 – April 22, 2000
  • Head+Heart+Hands: Native American Craft Traditions in a Contemporary World. 1998-2000 Traveling exhibit planned for the following venues:
    Kentucky Art and Craft Gallery, Louisville, KY, August 21 through October 31, 1998; Ohio Craft Museum, Columbus, OH, November 22 through January 21, 1999; Yakama Nation Cultural Heritage Center and Museum, Yakima, WA, May 15 through July 17, 1999; DeLand Museum, Deland, FL, October 29 through January 2, 2000
  • Healing Art: An Exhibit of Native American Art. American Psychological Association National Headquarters. Washington, DC. February 21, 1998 – February 21, 1999
  • Gifts of the Spirit: Works by Nineteenth Century and Contemporary Native American Artists. Peabody Essex Museum. Salem, Massachusetts. November 15, 1996 – May 18, 1997
  • Chongo Brothers: Third Generation Cochiti Artists. Museum of Indian Arts & Culture. Santa Fe, New Mexico. August 13-30, 1995

Some Awards Diego has earned

  • 2019 Native Treasures Living Treasures Award. Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. Santa Fe, New Mexico. 2019. Note: awarded to brothers Diego and Mateo Romero
  • 2018 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II – Pottery, Division E – Contemporary Pottery, Any Form or Design, Using commercial clays/glazes, all firing techniques, Category 907 – Painted, any form: Shared Second Place with Jody Folwell
  • 2017 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II – Pottery, Division E – Contemporary Pottery, any form or design, using commercial clays/glazes, all firing techniques: Best of Division
  • 2017 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification II – Pottery, Division E – Contemporary Pottery, any form or design, using commercial clays/glazes, all firing techniques, Category 907 – Painted, any form: First Place
  • 2017 Santa Fe Indian Market, Classification III – Paintings, Drawings, Graphics and Photographs, Division D – Print-making, Category 1401 – Lithographs, Woodcuts and Etchings (includes other Intaglio techniques): First Place
  • 2017 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market. Classification II Pottery, Division G – Pottery miniatures not to exceed three (3) inches at its greatest dimension: Honorable Mention. Awarded for artwork: “Death of the Turk”
  • 2004 Santa Fe Indian Market. Class II – Pottery, Div. J – Non-traditional ceramics, all materials, all techniques, with or without decorative elements, any form, any design, Cat. 1605 – Bowls, painted and unpainted, other than stoneware, Second Place
  • 2001 Santa Fe Indian Market. Santa Fe, NM. Class III – Paintings, Drawings, Graphics and Photography, Div. F – Graphics, Cat. 2302 – Lithographs and Woodcuts, First Place
  • 2000 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market. Heard Museum. Phoenix, AZ. Class. VII – Pottery, Non-traditional/wheel thrown/glazed/commercial, clay, kiln fired, Best of Division
  • 1999 Santa Fe Indian Market. Santa Fe, NM. Class. II – Pottery, Div. H – Non-traditional any forms using non-traditional materials or techniques, Cat. 1506 – Bowls, painted, other than stoneware, First Place, Third Place
  • 1998 Santa Fe Indian Market. Santa Fe, NM. Class. II – Pottery, Div. H – Non-traditional any forms using non-traditional materials or techniques, Cat. 1504 – Jars, vases, painted, other, Third Place
  • 1997 Santa Fe Indian Market. Santa Fe, NM. Class. II – Pottery, Div. H – Non-traditional any forms using non-traditional materials or techniques, Cat. 1506 – Bowls, First Place, Second Place
  • 1996 Santa Fe Indian Market. Santa Fe, NM. Class. II – Pottery, Div. H – Non-traditional any forms using non-traditional materials or techniques, Cat. 1506 – Bowls painted, other than stoneware, First Place
  • 1995 Santa Fe Indian Market. Santa Fe, NM. Class. II – Pottery, Div. J – Non-traditional, any forms using non-traditional materials or techniques, Best of Division
    – Cat. 1604 – Bowls other than stoneware, First Place and Second Place
  • 1993 Santa Fe Indian Market. Santa Fe, NM. Class. II – Pottery, Div. H – Non-traditional, new forms, using traditional materials and techniques, Cat. 1504 – Bowls, Third Place
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