The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture 2017 Living Treasure and Native Treasures Featured Artist: Jody Naranjo

This year, the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture and the Native Treasures Indian Arts Festival have chosen to honor eighthgeneration Santa Clara Pueblo potter Jody Naranjo as the 2017 MIAC Living Treasure and Native Treasures Featured Artist. Naranjo’s work incorporates a mixture of traditional materials and methods with her own creative elements. She is known for blending traditional and contemporary art forms and for adding her own unique and whimsical touch to her pottery.

Naranjo, who began potting at the age of 8, learned the craft from her mother and other female relatives. She started selling her artwork at age 15 at the New Mexico History Museum/Palace of the Governors and later attended the Institute of American Indian Arts. She uses traditional methods to make her pottery, including digging the clay from pueblo lands, processing the raw clay, hand coiling, and pit firing.

“I remember watching my grandmother making huge vessels, and I remember using clay from the time I was 3 or 4 years old,” Naranjo said. “And I would make little zoos and little houses—I always knew that I would be a potter. I never thought of doing anything else, or wanted to do anything else.”

Images of women, which she calls ‘pueblo girls,’ and animals are common themes in her artworks, elements she considers playful and experimental. She recently said that always having one of her children by her side while working has inspired her stylized designs. She would say to them, “Look at this, this is you going to the zoo, or this is the dog.” Naranjo’s work is also notable for its different color clays and the addition of acrylic colors.

“The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture is a key institution for us. It illustrates authentic pueblo culture & life and I feel it really represents us,” Naranjo said. “I’m honored to be the Living Treasure and Featured Artist for Native Treasures, which is an important benefit event for MIAC,” she said.

Naranjo has won numerous major awards for her pottery including “Best of Pottery” at Santa Fe Indian Market and “Best of Show” at the Eiteljorg Museum Indian Market in addition to a variety of other blue ribbon prizes. Her pottery has been featured in numerous books and is in the permanent collection of museums worldwide.

Jody Naranjo will be honored as the MIAC Living Treasure and Native Treasures Featured Artist on Friday May 26, 2017 at the Pre-Show VIP Benefit and Sale to kick off the Native Treasures festival, which takes place the following Saturday and Sunday. MIAC is also featuring her work and artistic achievements in the current exhibition, “Jody Naranjo: Revealing Joy” which runs through December 31, 2017.