¡Colores!; Michael Naranjo, Interview, Camera 1

All right, so are you rolling? Okay, hold on a sec. You're all new? We're good? Do we just pass one of them? Yeah, one of them. Which either one of your choice, and then you should see a red light rope. Okay. And so I'm going to get out. Okay, show me where you're going to clap, clap, quick him. Okay, I've got you. Go ahead and clap and then give us about 10 seconds. My phone right now. Could they have you in the studio today? How are you doing? I'm good. Great. Could they have me in your studio? I'm so excited. I'm so excited about you coming in and being here and just sitting here and talking and getting to know each other. Absolutely. Thank you for having us. I don't know. Really? My pleasure. I want to begin by asking you, what inspires you to work as an artist? Life.

We are all living creatures and full of life experiences. From the time we can go back and remember the first things. And it doesn't matter where you're from, what you do. Everyone has a story to tell. So as we go through life, these different experiences, moments that we remember, things we want to know and learn about, all settle down and eventually, some of these things end up in my work. And I guess that's what inspires me is just kind of living in life itself. Beautiful. You've lost your sight in the amount. How do you see? I see with my three fingers, as people would say, how do you see?

What do you see? With my three fingers on my left hand, because they're the ones that work, so everything I've worked and do, I see, according to the general description of seeing, since I'm totally blind in my world, is that of sound and touch. And so seeing, I see what I want to see, I guess, in that I don't see things that people don't want to see, the driving down the highway, the garbage, or as burnt buildings and towns, or those kinds of things. So I kind of lived, and I believe, in a rather sheltered way of seeing, because what I perceive, and which comes into my inner eye, my mind's vision, is what I see,

and what I allow in. Unfortunately, some of the stuff comes in, but for the most part, what I see is, I want to be happy, I want to see good things. So why not? Try to see, the way I want to see is, soft, gentle, nice, and good. That's beautiful. I want to go a little deeper there, because we were talking earlier about, how the piece, like your artwork helps us to see, which is brilliant, but how they come to you in visions, like you see flashes, can you talk some more about that? One of the first times I remember, it really came across a flashback and seeing things in my mind's eye. So when my fingers look at things, I get this visual imagery happening in my mind, and quite often, I can actually put color on a, on a body or on something that I'm looking at, skin color.

And I remember looking at one of my little pieces, I think it was at the National Gallery, in Florence, and was just looking at the box, and we left there, I was in there for about three hours, my mind was very tired. My fingers still wanted to see, but my mind couldn't see anymore. And so walking down the street, all of a sudden, I get a flash, a very strong picture in my mind's eye, of this arm that I was looking at. And so it was just kind of a flashback and seeing that arm. And seeing, seeing in dreams. What's so amazing is that the mind never stops creating. I have visual imagery in my dreams. I can see, I can create things.

I can, I see sculptures on rare occasions. And when I do, it's magical, because generally, I put them into bronze, and I had one a few months ago, and the month later sat down and created it. So seeing, how do I see through, through the sounds, through the voices of people, and how, I guess sometimes you can pick up on the motions of people. And in a crowd, you see a crowd gathering for anything, any subject matter, or they're out there protesting or whatever. But you get the feeling of the crowd, whether it's a good, gentle, purposeful crowd, or if there's this anxiety, hostility, floating through it. So seeing floods through the air, as well as through the touch of things,

and the way we perceive. What would you say, in all these years of creating art, creating beauty, what would you say is the most important thing, or the most influential thing that you've learned? If you want to do it, I guess you have to sit down and do it. When I could see, I always wanted to be a sculptor and I thought I would never be able to do that. But then I suddenly discovered that I could do that with one hand, creating very simple piece. And the moment I made that, I knew that I had my life, I had my purpose, and it just made my life so much more full and rich. I forgot your question. I need a moment too. I'll keep rolling.

I forget a question, something like, I go, do you want to share it? The question now, I think you were going there. The question is, what is the most important lesson you've learned? Important lesson. And having lost sight? No, in your years of creating art. More about art. Most important thing I've seen, I know, felt about how did you get it? Most important, and creating art. But it was 40, we talked about 40 years ago. Yeah. Okay. I like where you're going, because your answer gets from what you said, from a elder artist to a younger artist, what you've learned about, not just the process of creating your own art, but in the practice of being an artist. Do you want to change your shot now, since we're stopped? Yeah. We're stopped a little bit. We stopped a little bit. Yeah. We're kind of like,

you know, lessons. We learn, but everything is not linear, so what do you know? Probably, it's different. Yeah. It's different. I still hear it down more. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That was good. Okay. We're still rolling, so. Okay. And actually maybe you can, this is a little bit difficult. Yeah. There you go. You're going to ask the question again. Mm-hmm. Okay. Okay. So everyone's really? Mm-hmm. Okay. Go ahead. Michael, what, in all of your years of making art, what is the most important lesson that you've learned? The, so many different lessons, you can do a thing, but there's so many different kinds of lessons that get you to that point, I believe. The very first lesson of, so often what Laurie and I tell the kids, if you don't try, you don't succeed,

and if you don't ask, I'll never know. And so, sitting down, finding out that I could still create pieces, as time progressed, whenever I was creating something, the energy in my younger days was like, the fire is blazing internally, and is burning so hot, I sit down, I would sit down, and I would create a piece in a week, sleeping three, four hours a night, and just going through it, and total exhaustion at the end of the week. And I would find myself sitting there thinking, will I ever have another idea for a sculpture? But they come again, they always come. And then it's time progressed,

with life, the changes of life, and time, marriage, children, work habits changed, and also finding out, now that I'm older, I'm going to make it, it's going to get done. I don't have to work 23, 24 hours a day, for seven days. I can take you here, if I want. So I have the freedom now of not being held hostage for days by this driving force of creation, which can be enormously powerful. And at times I still find myself walking through studio, and picking up a piece, and I've lost again in time, because time doesn't exist. And so,

the whole process of creating is just, changes, I think, with our life as we go through our life and all. And there were times, when I think I'm going crazy, because I'll sit there and I'll laugh to myself, working, laughing out loud. And because I'm happy, I'm excited. It's beautiful, it's wonderful. And other times I'm spinning my wheels, and like everyone else, life isn't quite working the way you want it to go. So you change space, a pace, or something, and come back, and it works. Sounds spring. Sounds like sage advice from an experienced artist, an emerging artist. I wanted to ask you, what is the experience? Or can you describe the experience of creating art? When you were creating these pieces,

and you are quite literally feeling the way through it, do you put words to that experience? Idea. First, I have to have an idea. I've received ideas from dreams, from reading books, from people talking, things I've seen in the past. And so once I get this idea, then it sits inside, and sometimes on rare occasions, I can turn around, sit down, and create it. Other times, I can't do that. So it all varies. It never works out to sing. I can make sing-piece twice, and both of them will be different, one right after the other. And I lost it. It was okay. I was not saying I noticed that, even in the warriors, even the tassels of their belts,

they had the same kind of posture but the tassels of their belts, the tassels were very different. I forgot the question. So the question was, what's the experience? Could you describe it? Creating. Creating. Creating. The process, the creating is different with the one as well. There's this word answer that I was creating. And I started working on it, and I used to find night, the silence of the night. There's something magical about it. I used to love it when I lived alone. And I was sitting there working on this piece, and after about several hours, I knew it wasn't working. Though I could see it in my mind's eye, my mind and my fingers just weren't connecting, and with material that I was working with. So I put it on a shelf, and about six months later, I came back to it, and I started working on it, and I knew right then

that the time had come. And so I sat there again for days, and that was the one time that I was really afraid I'd gone crazy, because in the middle of the night, knowing around, my head is thrown back, I'm laughing out loud, and I scared myself, because I didn't intend to throw my head back and laugh. It was just suddenly I was, I don't know who that person was, and so I got up, and went into the living room, and sat down, and to gather my wits about me, and I thought, oh, I guess it's okay, because I was just happy creating what I was making. So it varies, and then there's this other piece that I was working on that's about, oh, it's never been cast, it's maybe 15, 20 feet tall, and it's of a dancer.

And I would go out at 10 o'clock at night, and I would start working on it, and I was putting molding plaster on this steel frame, and dipping burlap in this molding plaster and wrapping it around, and working away, going up and down the scaffolding, and all of a sudden I hear the birds singing, and I'd say, oh, the sun came up, it's morning, and I was working all night and didn't know it, and with that same sculpture, my dreams, I guess even in my dreams, I'm working sometimes, I was on the scaffolding with that same sculpture that's 15, 20 feet tall, and underneath the arm, the left arm, and the scaffolding was right across the chest of the sculpture, and squatting on my heels, and trying to reach up

under the armpit of the sculpture, and I couldn't quite reach it, uh, get to where I wanted, all of a sudden I saw through the sculpture's eyes, his head was kind of down, and I could see Michael on the scaffolding, trying to reach up under the arm to fix that one little section lay plaster there, and within the sculpture, looking at Michael, I started to move my arm and it felt like it almost started feeling the steel start to move, and I find myself sitting up in bed, and so it was kind of like, whoa, you know, what happened here, you know, uh, to be inside your sculpture, you know, that it happened, and then probably never happened again,

but I was actually inside him looking at myself, now, that's what I call magic, yeah, I don't know. That's what I call a describing the experience of playing the piece. Fantastic. Okay, I'm cheating more fast. Hold on a second, I'm cheating more fast. I'm cheating more fast. Yeah, I want you to kind of say that I'm using the right arm. Maybe you should go in a little bit more to use the right arm. I thought it was mine, but you would have heard my keys right? Oh, the machine. Okay. Okay. Okay, now I feel like there's another passing thread, but I'm not going to have a longer conversation. A little less. A little less. A little less. A little more.

A little less. That was amazing. Like you said, I even worked in my dreams. All right. So, yeah, continue. Go ahead. So, every already says obstacles. Do they frustrate you? Obstacles, disabilities. Yeah. They can interfere. Definitely. If I could look at a picture or look at something that I was trying to create, it would be so much easier. I could just, one glance and I can look at the whole thing, step back and look at it. But as it is, it's the touch, fingertips touching thousands upon thousands of touches. And so, that process is slower, but then maybe there's something nice about it.

Frustrating, there's so many things that I would like to see, but I can't. There's so many things that I would like to do, but I can't. I run up the mountain again. Simple things in life that we take for granted. But then by the same thing token, how important is it in my life to be able to run down the street? It would be nice, but it's not important. My wife and I used to go running. We go hiking, you know, going to movies. I have a disability. My right hand doesn't work very well. Minimal dexterity and use. And I can't see a darn thing, and the blind is a bat. But I think the nice way I see it is a way back there is somewhere.

I came across this whole thing of life. Rather than it being a problem, it's a challenge. And so it's really nice and fun. It can be fun to see how I can get it done and work around it. So yeah. I have difficulties and all. Difficulties when I'm spinning my wheels and I can't create the piece. But that simply solved. I put it down and make something else and come back to it later. On re-archesions, I walk into walls and the rude awakening. Yeah, I'm blind. So I kind of have one more question, but I'm going to stick one more in there. Okay, Tara. Absolutely.

Cool. We talked a little bit about earlier the movement in your piece. There's so much movement in your pieces. Can you tell us a little bit about why that's important to you? I have to move slowly. If I move too fast, it's just because I'm blind. But for so many years, for so many years, I guess, my brother and I, we used to go hunting and fishing all the time. We'd sit on top of the mountains and watch the world go by. It's a very gentle, peaceful way, place. Birds come floating into this little grassy meadow on top of the peaks. Down below,

you'll see a deer gently walking by. A blade of grass weighing with the breeze. And you look up and you see the clouds appearing and dissolving and re-appearing again on the other side of the peaks. So everything's moving, but it's slow and it's gentle. And so it doesn't take a very strong movement to create, to create something beautiful. You don't have it to have a volcano. You don't have to have a physical contact in a very aggressive form to create movement. Movement comes in all sorts of ways, but I live in a world of gentleness, I think, and it has to be that way

or it doesn't work. I live in a world of gentleness. So let me back up. So what drives you to continue making this work? I guess there's a need inside. It's like I love it. If you love something, take care of it. If you love it, you nourish it. And it grows. There's a fetus inside the room. You're nourishing it. It's growing. And when the time is right, the fetus comes into this world, starts living. My creations, my branches,

live inside me. Sometimes for long periods of times, for years, sometimes for days, weeks. It varies. But when the time, its own time, comes, it too has to be born. It has to come out. And I find that at times I'm fighting a piece from coming. And it's like a prolonged child labor going through through that procrastinating. I know I want to make it, but I'm afraid there's fear in it. Can I make it as good as I think as I can as I want to make it? Maybe, maybe not, you know? But it's, when the time comes, it comes out.

And I start creating. And there's nothing in the world like it. Because it's another world in itself that I'm so fortunate to be able to experience. That's really nice. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. Do you think that we could zoom the cameras out and kind of talk about that question again? Even if you say some of the same things, there's a way that we can talk about that question one more time. Which way? Just what branch of it? I was in that. Are you into it? Yeah. So, I'll be asking, Michael, differently. Did I answer on? Yeah, no, you did it beautifully.

We just wanted another look of it. So we close up the less answering gets. And now we have a long shot of less answering yet. And it will make them match, make a stew. But what? So, what pushes you to wake up every morning and continue to create these beautiful creations? The need inside, um, I guess that, um, has been there almost all my life, um, the need to create, the need to to live, the need to experience, the need to maybe understand something, but it all revolves around my work so often. Um, and Laurie, my wife, is so amazing because what she does is she makes it possible

for me to be able to do what I do. Um, creating is, is, is my world, my thing. Um, we all have our story. And I, I think what I found, um, has given so much, so added, so much beauty to, and enriched our lives to an enormous degree. Um, because we never know who we're going, what we're doing, what experience we're going to happen across, uh, come across, be it good or whatever. Um, but it's, um, it's part of living, uh, and part of my being is art and sculpture

and the appreciation of, of other forms of art as well. Um, I, I don't know what I'm saying. You know, the, the first time you really answered it was magical, and so I was just trying to see if I could get a different camera angle. Yeah. It's not necessary. I don't remember what I said. I never know what I said. You don't even need to say it again. I already have it. So that's, it's fine. I didn't mean to make you repeat yourself, but, and you didn't, which is good. I was chilly, and always comes out different. Right. Yeah. Exactly. So I think now, um, we should, we need to stop the cameras,