Artist Biography & Facts

Michael Naranjo

The following information, submitted November 2012 by Paul Henrickson, is a gallery review of about 14 years ago from about an ebook on Santa Fe artists, titled In Broad Daylight.

Like Georgia O'Keeffe, Naranjo exhibits a sense of proper integration of technique with content, without sacrificing aesthetic sensibility.
 
Although, I regret having to mention it, the fact that Michael Naranjo is blind, and, from report, also lacking the full use of one hand, bears strongly on his remarkable achievement. Even without these physical limitations his work would be sculpturally impressive, but the blindness is, I believe, inextricably a factor in the appearance of his bronze figures of Indians in various poses.
 
My attention was first drawn to the very highly successful pieces, War Dancer, Spirit, Buffalo Dancer, Native, and Devil Dancer. I stood amazed.
 
These works raise the question as the nature of vision and the relationship between it and the sense of touch. What is involved in the translation of one sense into he appropriate pattern normally used by another?
 
Whatever it is Naranjo has done this and more.
 
In addition to the personal accomplishment in overcoming physical limitations to his activity, he has infused these works with an identifiable image, a spirit, and a record of his sensibilities.
 
Not only do some of the works possess a kind of resemblance of his own face and body, a natural consequence of using himself as a model, but the way the works envelope and dine space is so expressively tactile that my own kinaesthetic sense get involved with what he has experienced.
 
It was sometime after I had written the above criticism that I received from Michel Naranjo an invitation to meet with him in his home where we discussed the possibility of my writing about him in more detail. I remember that I was shown into the house at Santa Clara Pueblo by his wife, an Anglo woman, who took care of him and his house.
 
Michael had lost both his eyes, I understand, when he threw himself upon a grenade. I don't know what motivation he might have had for behaving in this way for it could only end in disaster. At one point, at the early end of this interview Michael came walking into the room from what I supposed had been his bedroom and exhibited what I since had learned was an example of Indian humor and the Pueblo Indian are the only ones I know of who have developed it.  When he first came into the room, walking the way most blind people do, with his head raised, as though other senses were more fully engaged that way, with his back slightly arched, he sat down next to me on my right, and his wife was on my left so the three of us formed a triangle. It was then I noticed that his eyes were very blue, and, silly me I wondered whether the Vikings had got this far as well. I suddenly became very aware of the Norwegian sweater I was wondering and wondered whether my eyes appeared very blue as well. I had momentarily forgotten that he was blind. I am sometimes blind to the obvious myself. Oddly, I felt just a little intimidated, so in order to break the tension, slight as it was, broached the topic and told him that I found his eyes very blue. His face broke into a smile and then he laughed and said that when he felt especially patriotic he used the eyes that had the American flag on them.
 
After I had moved to Pojoaque and my property backed up to the Pojoaque Pueblo land and their herd of buffalo there were a few occasions hen I was reminded of the Indian sense of humor.  Needed to speak to the Governor of the Pueblo one time and seeing his brother I asked if Jacob were around.  His brother looked at me and said, "No, he's out but he's around", Seeing the confusion on my face he smiled and said again "He's out, but he's around" and made a gesture to indicate Jacob's girth.
 
What I wrote about Michael Naranjo after this interview was that looking closely at his work was one of the greatest, most intellectually and aesthetically satisfying rewards I had gained from the study of art.  It was the recognition, in the work itself, of a genuine talent whose sources of creativity drew deeply from the spiritual, physical and psychological resources. At this point it is difficult to tell what Naranjo might have done had he not become blind. It may have been the blindness that turned him into a sculptor but he example we see is a moving one of the victory of the human spirit over its environment.
 
There are some artists with ore years of academic training and some with more years of practical experience than the then youthful Michael Naranjo had had, yet, in them, the sense of the kinesthetic in the human form is lacking, and for all that, what remains is an academic exercise.
 
Naranjo's figures occupy their spaces with a rare quality of space-filling movement.  As dance defines space so do the figures of Naranjo. It is the haptic quality touching upon the nature of what we feel as we move through space more than that we know as a result of training which distinguished Naranjo's work.
 
Most of Naranjo's work has been modest in scale, but now he has taken it upon himself to adapt an earlier work to monumental uses, enlarging the "Sha De Ee", the dancer from its original 18" crouching figure to twelve feet. Obviously such an immense undertaking requires a situation, which would compliment its scale. There may be some risk in the project in that often times simply enlarging something destroys some of the internal relationships so that the piece doesn't work the way it did in its original size. One might hope that the work of Michael Naranjo might receive a broader and more public exposure.

A resident of Espanola, New Mexico, Michael Naranjo became a successful Native American sculptor of realistic human figures.  He was blinded by a grenade that exploded near his face in 1968 while serving in the Vietnam War.  While recovering in a hospital in Japan, he began working with clay.

Over the years, he has become known as the "artist who sees with his hands," and he makes pieces that he intends for people to touch.

His works are in the permanent collection of the Vatican and the White House.  In 1999, he was honored as the Disabled American Veteran of the Year.


Source:
Dotty Indyke, "Michael Naranjo", Southwest Art, April 2002, p. 42

Michael A. Naranjo grew up on tribal land in Northern New Mexico.  His mother, was a potter, and it was through experimenting with her clay that he began his journey that would go on to become his life, for ever since childhood, Michael had dreams of becoming a sculptor. When not involved in the clay, Michael also did a lot of hunting and fishing with his brother, Tito.  These natural anatomy lessons were to serve him well in later years, after he lost his sight.

In 1967, at the age of 22, Michael was drafted into the US Army, and sent to Vietnam. On January 8, 1968, Michael's platoon was caught in an ambush in an open rice field. Michael was hit by a grenade and would never see again.

Both eyes were enucleated and he lost most of the use of his right hand.

Rather than deter Michael, however, his injury made him more determined to fulfill his childhood dream. He began sculpting again while lying in a hospital bed in Japan, waiting to heal. Michael began simply, by creating a worm - basically, starting over.

Known as the artist who sees with his hands, Michael has work displayed in numerous public and private collections across the country, and in exhibitions nationally and internationally as well.  His creations in bronze are representational, each one telling a story all its' own.  The patina he chooses is dark - the way he sees them.

Not being satisfied to merely create, Michael has gone on to share his story and his technique with others.   He has served as a mentor for many people, young and old, disabled and not, service connected and civilian, for Michael's story is one that many can relate to.  Michael serves as an example of what can be accomplished if one puts one's mind to the task.  He has been an educator in the public schools, has presented hands-on workshops to people with disability around the country, and has given numerous talks on his life and his work to a variety of audiences.

Michael has received numerous honors and accolades over the years. In 1976, Michael was presented with the Governor's Award for Sculpture by Governor Jerry Apodaca.   In 1983, he was granted a papal audience at the Vatican where he presented Pope John Paul II with his piece, 'Going Home'.   In 1996, he was nominated by President Bill Clinton to serve on the Board of Trustees of the Institute of American Indian and Alaska Native Culture and Arts Development. If the purpose of art is to express and evoke emotion,

Michael continues to work in his studio in his home in Northern New Mexico.

Artist's Statement:
"I grew up in Northern New Mexico where my mother was a potter and throughout my early childhood, I was involved in helping her prepare clay.  This gave me familiarity with art as a 3-D medium, and though I never really potted, I realized, as a child, that sculpture was my dream."

"As a young man, I did a lot of hunting and fishing with my brother, Tito.  Little did I know how well these natural anatomy lessons would serve me later in life.   In 1968, I was blinded by a hand grenade while serving in the US army in Vietnam. Consequently, my work is created by touch.  Through my work, I try to capture a moment, a feeling, a subtle movement.  The patina I choose is black, for that is the color I see."

"My subject matter is varied. Over the years, I have sculpted Indian dancers, nudes, animal figures and studies of those around me. I get my ideas from memories from things I might have seen growing up, from books I have read, from life's experiences. I like to think that each of my pieces can tell its own story through its own expression."

"I create my pieces either in wax or clay, as both are forgiving mediums. I may work on more than one piece at a time and have also been known to create a piece and tear it up several times before taking it to the bronze foundry to have a mold made and the piece cast."

"I most often create pieces that appeal to me at the moment, although I do immensely enjoy the challenge of a site specific piece or commission. My pieces vary in size from those you can hold in your hand, up to 7 feet tall, to date."

"I am always excited about what tomorrow may bring in regards to creating a new piece. Part of the joy of creating my work is sharing it with others, hoping that the viewer experiences as much pleasure in viewing it as I do in its' creation. To this end, I have begun having all touchable shows of my work where all of my pieces are totally accessible and hands on; that is the way I create them and that is the way I like them to be experienced."

It is not uncommon for creative men and women to feel called from early youth to be an artist.  Michael Naranjo certainly experienced an actual sense of vocation to become an artist as a small boy growing up in the Santa Clara Pueblo and in Taos. To some extent the experience may have its roots in the creativity of his mother.  She was a potter who made use of her son's energy in preparing clay.  Naranjo relates how he would dance on his mother's raw clay until his feet had sufficiently kneaded the clay.  Naranjo easily recalls that he knew from his earliest years that he should become what his mother already was.

In 1968 Naranjo's dream seemed to collapse entirely.  While serving in Vietnam, he sustained major injuries from an exploding grenade.  He lost the use of his right hand; the explosion blinded him permanently in both eyes.  The artist believed that his career in fine art was gone forever.  While he lay in a hospital in Japan where his injuries were being treated, Naranjo somehow summoned the courage and self-possession to ask for a lump of clay from which he fashioned a small figure.

The experience of the lump of clay galvanized Naranjo.  He had taken an art class as a high school student in Taos and knew then that he wanted to be an artist.  He did not begin to sculpt however until after he returned from Vietnam.  The loss of his sight in some way called to Naranjo to reach for a source within himself which he had known only imperfectly.  The experience of touching that truth has since defined Naranjo's life.

For more than 30 years Naranjo has fashioned figures of clay, which are then cast in bronze.  Guided by a sense of touch and keen intuition alone, he has produced works of splendid artistry.

Naranjo has become widely recognized as well.  The Italian government allowed Naranjo to mount a specially-built scaffold and to come into actual physical contact with Michelangelo's David in Florence.  Naranjo has consequently pursued the establishment of hands-on museum experiences for disabled persons in many U.S. cities and museums including the Heard Museum in Phoenix and Indianapolis's Eiteljorg Museum of American Indian and Western Art.  He has become a mentor for an entire generation of artists, for the disabled and the sighted alike.  In 1983, Naranjo was received by Pope Paul VI, who accepted a gift of Naranjo's Going Home.  He presented his Dance of the Eagle to Richard Nixon, a piece which is now in the permanent collection of the White House.

Naranjo's work has been widely exhibited in U.S. galleries and has received many commissions and awards.  In 1979 his Santa Clara Rain Dancer was awarded First Prize, Best in Class, and Best in Division at the Santa Fe Indian Market.  He was honored in 1990 with the Distinguished Achievement Award from the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.  In 1999 he was the LIFE Foundation's Presidential Unsung Hero.  In 2004, he was the recipient of the Santa Fe Rotary Foundation's Distinguished Art Award.