Flora naranjo biography of michael

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His journey led him to Rome where a special scaffolding was built so he could touch Michelangelo's famous works including Pieta and David. His inspirational life story is depicted in books.
    Always humble and gracious, Michael has been honored for creating beauty in his art and never allowing his “disability” to be a barrier from what resides in his heart and soul.  Among Michael’s many honors are The Governor’s Award for sculpture by Governor Jerry Apodaca; The “Outstanding Vietnam Veteran Award by President Carter and Governor Bruce King; the Profiles in Courage Award by NM Vietnam Veteran’s Association; the Distinguished Achievement Award by the American Indian Resources Institute, National Press Club, Washington DC.

In 1999, to highlight his inspiration to others, Michael  was the first artist to receive the Outstanding Disabled Veteran of the Year award. He has donated pieces of his work to schools and organizations. He had taken an art class as a high school student in Taos and knew then that he wanted to be an artist. A determined Michael fought his way back to a new and rich way of experiencing life.

In his speech, Obama talked about a quote from Michael which is engraved in the memorial.  It says, “When you’re young, you’re invincible.  You’re immortal.  I thought I’d come back.  Perhaps I wouldn’t, there was that thought, too, but I had this feeling that I would come back.  Underneath that feeling, there was another, that maybe I wouldn’t be quite the same, but I felt I’d make it back.”
    Known as “the artist who sees with his hands Michael “serves as a powerful example of the human spirit and the infinite possibility of one’s potential.”  He generously and unconditionally shares his talent.  He is a mentor and inspiration through his lectures, teaching especially to youth.

His mother was Rose Naranjo, a famous Santa Clara Pueblo potter who worked in clay. The forms he creates are simple and bold, but the surfaces have a varied texture that viewers are encouraged to touch. 

For over 40 years, Naranjo has sculpted stories from clay, using his left hand and no tools. The Italian government allowed Naranjo to mount a specially-built scaffold and to come into actual physical contact with Michelangelo's David in Florence.

The artist believed that his career in fine art was gone forever. 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. Guided by a sense of touch and keen intuition alone, he has produced works of splendid artistry.

Naranjo has become widely recognized as well.

She was a potter who made use of her son's energy in preparing clay. “I gave my eyes for this country, and I felt I had a right, as a sculptor, to touch our national treasures.,” he claimed.
    Michaels bronzes of animals, human figures, and Pueblo dancers are in private, public and museum collections in the United States and around the world— from Santa Fe the Bataan Memorial Building and our State Capitol, the Smithsonian Institution, the White House, to the Vatican.

He lost the use of his right hand; the explosion blinded him permanently in both eyes. As one of ten children, Naranjo enjoyed the New Mexican wilderness with his siblings, exploring the land and hunting with his older brother.

Naranjo’s sculptures often feature the narratives of his childhood: native dances, eagles and buffalo, women carrying water.

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.

He’d lost the use of his right hand; with his left, he sculpted a small figure and began his career as a sculptor.

The clay recalled a childhood pastime for Naranjo: sitting with his mother, Rose, a well-known potter, and modeling small animals. 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.

Naranjo easily recalls that he knew from his earliest years that he should become what his mother already was.

In 1968, while serving in Vietnam Naranjo sustained major injuries from an exploding grenade.