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About
Join us for a special art talk with visiting artist Porfirio Gutiérrez, whose work will be featured in Between the Lines.
Porfirio Gutiérrez is a Zapotec American textile artist based in Ventura, California. He uses traditional Zapotec technology of dyes and materials and redefines Zapotec weaving language to create works that communicate contemporary experiences and the complexity of the Americas today.
Gutiérrez’s expertise is based on a family legacy of treadle loom weaving and ancestral knowledge of his homeland, its organic materials, and their seasonal cycles that result in an unlimited palette of natural colors. He departs from traditional woven motifs in his compositions, exploring the boundaries of his own creative expression and distinct experiences. Through his practice, he asks us to rethink narrow definitions of contemporary art and Indigeneity. While in Zapotec there is no word for “artist” as an occupation, there is a long-held concept of valuing those who hold wisdom within their community. Gutiérrez’s interpretation of ancestral weaving techniques and motifs opens a new dialogue in the imposed dialectic of art versus craft, which he sees as serving little purpose in furthering contemporary Indigenous creative expression. Breaking with that tradition is where he finds ultimate freedom as an artist.
An internationally known and exhibited artist, Gutiérrez has taught materials and color at Harvard University and serves as Fellowships Advisory for the Smithsonian. His work is in the collections of LACMA, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, and the Tucson Museum of Art. A selection of his dye materials was documented and added to Harvard Art Museums’ Forbes Pigment Collection.
Awards and recognition noted in his career include the Smithsonian Institution’s Artist in Leadership fellowship (2015), the Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation Art Prize (2021), finalist for the Frieze Art Prize (2023), and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowship (2026). His work has been covered by ARTnews, The New York Times, PBS, the BBC, Vogue, and Artforum.
This program is presented in conjunction with Land Art Week, organized by the Utah Museum of Fine Arts and Powder Art Foundation, with additional programs presented at Kimball Art Center, UMOCA, and Ogden Contemporary Arts.