As a young boy growing up on a Tewa reservation in northern New Mexico, Michael Naranjo knew he wanted to be a sculptor. But his dream would be halted in the spring of 1967 when Naranjo was drafted into the army.
He began traveling to different training camps during the summer and was stationed in Vietnam in November. Just a few days after, Naranjo would never be the same.
On Nov. 8, 1968, a hand grenade thrown by a Vietnamese soldier blinded him. He spent the next eight months in hospitals recovering from his injuries. He had lost the use of his right hand along with his sight.
While lying on a hospital bed in Japan, a volunteer asked if she could get anything for Naranjo. He asked for some clay. It was in the hospital that he began trying to learn to sculpt using one hand, feeling the shape of the clay.
He said it is hard for him to get the proportion and movement in a piece how he wants it, since he can only feel and create one part at a time.
"If I could see, I could look at the real thing," he said. "It would also help if I could stand back and view the whole piece."
Naranjo will be presenting a lecture on his experiences tonight in Pruis Hall.
He said he sculpts from his memories of before he lost his sight. He also gets inspiration from audio books he listens to and dreams, which he said are just like the dreams of sighted people and in color.
When Naranjo sculpts, he creates from an image in his mind, but his sculptures are all black. He is not able to compare his art to real images.
Even though it may be tough to sculpt, when he faces these obstacles every day, Naranjo said he can't see himself doing anything else. He said that learning to sculpt was like anyone learning a craft.
"With time, like anything else, you get better at it," he said.
It also helped that Naranjo had training and experience in art and sculpture before going to Vietnam. A member of an artistic family, he was always around clay when he was young. His mother, Rose Naranjo, was a potter and he enjoyed playing and creating with it, he said. His older brother sketched, so he tried that as well, though he said he wasn't as talented with that medium.
He really got into sculpting in high school, though he didn't take art classes. He went on to major in art at a university in New Mexico, he said.
Now, he said he creates pieces mostly out of wax, because small parts, such as arms, can support themselves and it can be sculpted without the use of tools. After he creates a sculpture, a mold is made and they are set in bronze.
He sculpts what he knows and has seen. Many of his sculptures are of a Native American theme. He sculpts human figures, dancers, nudes and animals.
"I am drawn to sculpting animals and people because of the soft movement and the beauty of the human body," he said.
Naranjo's art will be on display in the Atrium Gallery in the Art and Journalism building until Thursday.
At his lecture in Pruis tonight, Naranjo said he will talk about his life, his experience with his disability and his work.
His visit is part of the Freshman Connection's focus on disability this year, Melinda Messineo, Freshman Connections director, said. The goal of this focus and Naranjo's visit is to show those without disabilities share experiences that all humans have.
"The fact that he was able to develop his skills in light of his disability is something that we can all take away from his visit," Messineo said.
On Wednesday, Naranjo will hold a workshop for students and community members. Messineo said people interested can contact her by e-mail until 10 a.m. Wednesday. Naranjo will guide students in making a bust at this workshop, he said. He will teach his method of feeling the piece of art, rather than seeing it, and how he constructs a face.
Sophomore ceramics and psychology major Collette Spears said she will be attending the workshop because she hopes to gain another perspective in the creation of art.
She is pursuing art therapy and said she hopes to understand the concept of using touch to connect to a sculpture.
"I think it's really quite courageous of him to not let his sight disability impact his progression as an artist," she said. "I consider him to be a person that not only artists can look to, but all people that may feel like a certain thing is holding them back from greatness."
That is exactly what Naranjo hopes to share from telling his story. He said he believes that many things are possible.
"If you try hard enough, you can succeed," he said.
He said he creates his art because he takes away pleasure from it, but that he also hopes others get joy from his work.
He invites anyone who wants to touch his sculptures, to feel them the way he created him.
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