About the Artist

Michael Naranjo was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1944. A Tewa Indian, Michael grew up in the pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico. Son of noted potter Rose Naranjo, he helped her prepare her clay, inevitably developing an early interest in the medium. One of eight children, his sisters include potters Jody Folwell, Dolly Naranjo-Neikrug and Nora Naranjo-Morse. At age 22, Narano was drafted by the U.S. Army. He was sent to Vietnam the following year, 1968. He had been there less than two months when a hand grenade exploded near him in a rice paddy. He lost his vision and partial use of his right hand. While in rehab in a military hospital in Japan, he was given some clay as a form of physical therapy. That rekindled a childhood desire to work as a sculptor. Returning stateside, Naranjo briefly attended a school for the blind in California. He then moved to Santa Fe and began sculpting and exhibiting his work. Michael Naranjo's sculpture can be found in private and museum collections worldwide, including the Vatican, the White House and the Heard Museum in Phoenix. His work has been exhibited at the San Diego Museum of Man and at the Eiteljorg Museum of Native American and Western Art in Indianapolis, Indiana.