MENU

Sections

  • Home
  • Arts
  • Food
  • Ecosystem
  • Education
  • Habitat
  • Health & Recovery
  • Local Life
  • News
  • P.O.V.
  • Senior Nation
  • Donate
  • About
    • The Chestertown Spy
    • Contact Us
    • Advertising & Underwriting
      • Advertising Terms & Conditions
    • Editors & Writers
    • Dedication & Acknowledgements
    • Code of Ethics
    • Chestertown Spy Terms of Service
    • Technical FAQ
    • Privacy

More

  • Support the Spy
  • About Spy Community Media
  • Advertising with the Spy
May 17, 2022

The Chestertown Spy

An Educational News Source for Chestertown Maryland

  • Home
  • Arts
  • Food
  • Ecosystem
  • Education
  • Habitat
  • Health & Recovery
  • Local Life
  • News
  • P.O.V.
  • Senior Nation
  • Donate
  • About
    • The Chestertown Spy
    • Contact Us
    • Advertising & Underwriting
      • Advertising Terms & Conditions
    • Editors & Writers
    • Dedication & Acknowledgements
    • Code of Ethics
    • Chestertown Spy Terms of Service
    • Technical FAQ
    • Privacy
Arts Arts Portal Lead Arts Arts Top Story Spy Chats Spy Top Story Top Story

Bob Ortiz: A Mural for “El Trompo”

January 27, 2021 by James Dissette

Share

Anyone who knows Bob Ortiz knows him as an artist who has long been at the forefront of promoting Kent County arts. If he’s not putting the finishing touch on an exquisite wood creation at his Robert Ortiz Studios on Cross St., he and musician wife Pam, as the Pam Ortiz Band, were performing pre-pandemic for the community.

Ortiz has always regarded his work studio as more than a place to create furniture. Countless artistic ventures, surrounded by table saws and raw planks of wood, have been launched there, from music and dramatic rehearsals to poetry and exhibits of fellow artists.

“I honestly believe that furniture making is the least important thing that happens in my shop,” he says.

Now, the master-craftsman feels a sense of responsibility to showcase two young artists he has taken under his wing for the last three years. From Latin America, the artists bring an aesthetic often under-represented on the Eastern Shore.

“In April 2021, I will celebrate my 71st birthday, and it’s clear to me that I’m in the final stage of my working career. With this in mind, I have felt that I have an obligation to be supportive, in an active way, of local artists who are starting out in their careers,” he recently wrote in a funding proposal.

With that in mind, Ortiz is offering the exterior wall of his shop as a blank canvas to emerging artists Fredy Granillo and Vanna Ramirez for their “El Trompo” mural.

“El Trompo,” or “the top,” is a nod to the ancient and universal children’s wooden toy spun from a string. Popular in Latin America and worldwide, the top in a child’s hand with a village backdrop will be the central motif in the artists’ mural.

The Spy recently talked with Bob Ortiz about the project, and the importance of showcasing the often underrepresented artists from the Latin American community whose roots in Kent County are deep and generational.

This video is approximately six minutes in length. To see more of Fredy Granillo’s art, go here. For more of Vanna Ramiriz’s art, go here.

 

.

Filed Under: Arts Portal Lead, Arts Top Story, Spy Chats, Spy Top Story, Top Story

The Digital Divide on the Eastern Shore — And How It Hurts by Al Hammond Spy COVID-19 Daily Update Jan. 27

Letters to Editor

  1. Beryl Smith says

    January 28, 2021 at 10:37 AM

    What a great idea!

  2. Bob Foss says

    February 2, 2021 at 10:51 AM

    Once again, Bob is making an amazing contribution to Chestertown. Pam and I can’t wait to see the mural once Covid is in the rearview mirror and we can once again visit Chestertown, the place where, because of people like Bob and Pam Ortiz, our hearts reside.

Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article

We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.

Copyright © 2022

Affiliated News

  • The Cambridge Spy
  • The Talbot Spy

Sections

  • Arts
  • Culture
  • Ecosystem
  • Education
  • Health
  • Local Life
  • Spy Senior Nation

Spy Community Media

  • About
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us
  • Advertising & Underwriting

Copyright © 2022 · Spy Community Media Child Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in