Fred Ortiz

“The basic difference between my work and the traditional way of making art, is that I make all of my pieces originals.”

Fred Ortiz was born and raised in Nambe, north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of New Mexico, he began to create vessels in bronze. Working with a well-known foundry owned by his wife’s family, he began to cast and sell his work throughout the country. His work has now been collected for over thirty years, and he has designed and produced many commissioned pieces for a diverse list of clients. For many years, Governor Bruce King of New Mexico awarded Fred’s work to such dignitaries as President Jimmy Carter, Princess Anne of England and King Juan Carlos of Spain. Commissioned pieces include appointments for the interiors of customized aircraft belonging to The Sultan of Brunei, The King of United Arab Emirates, The King of Jordan, Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal, Adnan Khasshogi, Mobil Oil Company and Citibank. He was chosen to design and make the awards for “The Night of 100 Stars” at Radio City Music Hall and the Clinton-Gore Inaugural Committee and the Bush-Cheney Inaugural Committee both chose Fred Ortiz to design and make gifts for their inaugural events. Among organizations that Fred designed and cast awards for are The Council of Energy Resource Tribes, Native Americans in Philanthropy, The US/Mexico Chamber of Commerce, The Civil Engineers Research Foundation, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and many others.