First Friday now...

First Friday of Bakersfield is under new management, The Arts Council of Kern.

For full information visit KernArts.org.

Alexandra Ortiz Portfolio: January 2014

Here is a link to my portfolio. I am in the process of unifying all my art and blogs and websites so they are more easily accessible. For now, my portfolio is on a separate site from the blog.

Click Here for Portfolio Site.

Brain (History Painting Series) 2013

To Climb Trees (Forbidden Forest Series) 2012

Good, Bad, Sensible (Hamster Series) 2010-2012

Island of Misfit Toys: YEAH SCIENCE

The Foundry Gallery of Bakersfield had their last member's group art exhibit for December titled Island of Misfit Toys based on the stop-motion animation Roudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Artists were challenged to create something with that theme.

"Yeah, Science"

I watched the animated special again and came up with the idea to paint Breaking Bad characters as if they belonged in the Island of Misfit Toys. I used a combination of Youkon Cornelious and Sam the Snow Man for Walter White and Hermey the (would be dentist) elf as a model for Jesse Pinkman.

For Further Reading:

Island of Misfit Toys TV Special

AMC Breaking Bad

Bakersfield Californian: Foundry Farewell

etsy shop

Painting with Alex

Hey all, I created a video where I paint a piranha. It's a bit long. There may be more videos to come. Here goes.

Retrospective: A Year of Curating Oct 2012-Nov 2013

Retrospective: A Year of Curating

NX ArtHouse Oct 2012- Nov 2013

My name is Alex. I curated at the NX ArtHouse for about a year. When I finish this blog entry, my work will be complete. It was quite a ride.

October 2012 Forbidden Forest, The Art of Alex Ortiz 

Curated by LisaAnn LoBasso, assisted by Alex Ortiz.

November 2012 Stone Soup

Curated by LisaAnn LoBasso, assisted by Alex Ortiz.

December 2012 nXmas Art Sale

Curated by LisaAnn LoBasso, assisted by Alex Ortiz.

February 2013 Deliverance, The Art of Christine McBride

Curated by Alex Ortiz.

March 2013 Blank Gone Wild

Curated by Alex Ortiz.

April 2013 Reality Hurts You Because You Are Sensitive, the art of alone family

Curated by Alex Ortiz.

May 2013 Penciled Ones and Zeroes, The Art of Troy Brown

Curated by Alex Ortiz.

June 2013 Unconventional Beauty, The Art of Audrey

Curated by Alex Ortiz.

July 2013 Yes, We Have No Bananas

Curated by Alex Ortiz.

August 2013 Your Mama Don't Paint! Paint Off!

Curated by Alex Ortiz.

September 2013 This Is Your Valley & Other Works, The Art of LisaAnn LoBasso 

Curated by Alex Ortiz.

October 2013 i was never young, the art of beatrice huerta boswell

Curated by Alex Ortiz.

November 2013 Quintessence of Dust, The Art of Sarah McComb

Curated by Alex Ortiz.

During these art exhibits The NX ArtHouse hosted OnTheFly Open Mic with flymaster John Davies and SPEAKEASY Open Mic with co-hosts Alex Ortiz and Zeke Hughes.

I had always planned on this being temporary. It was just time. I loved curating these shows. It was a huge challenge. I would do it again, in another time and place. I'm not planning on curating any events soon. Who knows what adventures will happen next. For now I'm going to focus on my own art. Thank you to everyone involved for this experience.

Much Love,
Alex Ortiz