¡Colores!; Michael Naranjo, Christmas Interview, Hakim, Camera

I'm rolling to can you guys will see a king's hands a little more for There you go. You can see there. Yeah, he's good. Okay, sweet. And the floor is yours. Hi, Michael. Good morning. It's both. So just small talk. It's good to be back. I'm glad we're doing this again. It seems like we never left. Now we're gonna jump right in. Michael, so much of your work is focused on Native American heritage. On the back, back, back. Did you say Native American Pebble Heritage? Pebble Heritage. Okay, thank you. Okay, I'll go back. Michael, so much of your work is focused on Native American heritage and storytelling from that tradition. Why did you decide that you such a different

theme this time? It's always fun to try something different something new since I've done so many pieces from my culture and of course from other parts of life in general. This is such a well-known subject and a piece that I had never thought I would do because in a way the complexity of it when you make a sculpture and you make one figure then you get to know that one figure and what he's thinking and you get him a life in one of the realms and here there are eight reindeer and Santa and his sleigh and it deals with the season and it deals with cultures and countries and so many different sections of the world. And of course children too were so important when our daughter was growing up

her teacher asked her which was on fifth grade who believes in Santa and she was the only one who raised it. But it was great because if you don't believe in Santa, you don't get presents. Right. And today they're in their early 30s and they still get a present so as long as you believe in Santa, you're very good shape. And so it was exciting because of the reindeer, the animal portion of this whole piece. I've been blind for over 45 years and to go back and try to make one was difficult. The body movement thought I didn't know it was orange. So I had to check that out. How did you check that out? Went to a taxidermist downtown. He asked if I could look at one of the

mountains to the head of reindeer and so I got an idea of what the answers were like and how they are all different. And the head is different from that. A deer out. So I did get an idea. But of course, I mean not a realist and sculpting but more representational. I needed the way that I felt like I wanted to make it. But it's as close as possible as you can raise your head. What I find interesting about that pardon me. Okay, I'm sorry. I'm still I'm still recovering from a cold. No, you were doing great but I was trying to hold the coffin for a long time.

Okay, because I didn't want to disturb you because you were such a role. I have water. No, no, I was fine. I was actually going to ask you a follow-up question before I start having your coffee attack. Okay, here we go. I think I'm not going to cough here. All right. What I find so interesting about what you just said, Michael, is that being like you said, not necessarily a realist when you're creating sculptures. But for many of us who share this this Santa Claus and this Christmas mythology, there's there's a level of non-realness to it anyway, many of us have never seen a real reindeer. So we're actually going from a space that's not very real either. Something that isn't tangible familiar to us. Sometimes it's difficult to put a cross carry across and let people know what you see. Pause. Next question. Yeah. Because I think that Michael already hit your second question. How do you say

on his reindeer respiratory? You know, and how do you go about sculpting that you don't have reference to it? You don't think we want there already? I can't go further into that, Michael. Okay. So what was the question again? Okay. So yeah, I'll give like kind of the four end of the question as well because we talked a little bit about this before the cameras came on, Michael. Okay. You lost your sight and be at NAMM and I don't know what your experience was with reindeer before that, but how do you go about sculpting something that you have no visual frame of reference for? The great part of that creating a reindeer never haven't seen one before. Only photographs and photographs. So a momentary

and you look at them and then you appreciate them and then they're gone. So memories, as light, they think memory in your mind is like somewhere. But having a great deal with my use with my older brother, I became very familiar with the anatomy of health and the ear and the calisoon. That carries over into the movements of a reindeer. So they move the same way. The bodies are somewhat similar, so that helps a great deal. Going to a taxidurna and looking at the antlers and seeing what they look like and how they can vary. But what I wanted with this whole thing of Santa and his, who, again, have a beautiful, but their, their hearts, these legal antlers coming up. And I gave them all nice old mature antlers, because I think it's

the motion of getting the feel of a piece at times. I have to work out and so it's sometimes a motion that has to be like, and sometimes it's hard to get all of it, especially if you're not familiar with the creature, and you've never seen one. And I'm not going to continue to go touch with it, I don't think I'd be able to. Oh, Ring might not let you. So going to a taxidurna was as close as I could get to it, which helped the enormous amount to be able to sit down and then try to recall what it felt for those few hours. I love that. The visual of you, just being with these antlers for hours at a taxidermist. But I really intrigued by what you said about motion, because when I think about your work,

which strikes me, is the fluidity, the smoothness and the motion of what you create, and so that that makes perfect sense, that if the impression that you're left with from seeing a deer move is something that you can connect to, and then hopefully create that experience for us, right, for the person who's experiencing the artwork. The animal, the any animal out there, is a flexible man, the human body is so flexible, anything on why the move is graceful, but when you get after it, you don't even treat Christmas trees as people, and they're graceful, we love the move. Everything moves. Most of my pieces aren't dramatic, they aren't jumping and what it is, but there's just a slow movement, sometimes there's all the peaks, a gentle movement, and of course that is a very gentle happy creature, and so it's reindeer, and so there's a little bit left out.

Yeah, and even the impression of movement, I think some of your pieces that I've seen, it might be a static piece as a sculpture, but it's either just about to move or just finished moving, and that is really apparent when you look at your work. I like that in between with that sometimes, just in the piece. That doesn't look like an animal or a person can move like that, but it's that in-between motion, that's always beautiful, sometimes, just in that moment, that's not the normal. Mm-hmm, are finished. That's not quite finished. Question? Yeah, excuse me. Do you mention Michael that the reindeer are part of what inspired you, so it'd be interesting to hear how the reindeer inspired you to create the work a little more about that? Okay, I'll leave you. As the holidays approach, many of us are more enthralled with

Santa than his reindeer, but you are focusing on the reindeer, Michael, so why? What is it about the reindeer that really drew you towards this piece of work? I love the whole concept of the nature, the beauty, because of so much of my younger days, there's been a bit of a mountainism, and I'm being able to be up there when there's silence and it's a nature, and it's a bit of fun. The reindeer gives that to going back in time, and working sitting down and thinking about moments when I saw various kinds of animals similar to the reindeer, and the beauty, the grace, the motion, that they travel with, it's through their environment, it's just absolutely beautiful. When you're sitting there,

and you don't know, they don't know that you're sitting there watching them. That is beautiful, and I could just use the word grace, and when you think of this huge crown that they have on their head and being able to move so fluidly, it's like floating, when they, and I'm speaking not to say I'm having seen a reindeer, but just seeing a big moose or a really large deer with a large set of antlers, it's like how do you even, how do you move gracefully with something like that attached to your head? No. It is amazing what they can't do, and feel with world with it, and get around, and it's passing and they fly. A reindeer, my reindeer, thinks fly, and it is a kind of, I want to fly.

Of course, it always takes a sense of this reindeer, it's a bit too disguise, and doing some research on something, and looking at one photo of a silhouette of sand and his reindeer, with the moon behind him. These moments, these pictures, and you think, these reindeer, it's getting ready, and when we're going to do something that we love doing, and I'm sure my reindeer, sand is a reindeer, I'll call him right for a moment, sand is a reindeer, are so excited, and they're so up for this journey that they're going to take, and so their reindeer just step high, and their heads are up there, and they're moving their hands up, and they're hammering right there. This is a real, a whole thing of, yes, let's go, and possibilities.

They're charged with a pretty cool mission. Next. Process, so material process, are we talking about? Michael, could you walk us through the process of creating your reindeer? And Santa. All of the separate pieces, because the reindeer's one sculpture, all eight of them, we'll call them one section of it, and Santa's another, and the sleigh is another, so they're all very separate, and so in creating them, thinking about precautions, and all of that, and so first the reindeer, I had to come up with, and deciding on the sides that I wanted to make, because if you

make them too big, you're going to cover the entire length of the floor if there are four reindeer when you have the others, so that can't be moved around, and so I had to think about the little things, big things like that, I guess. Little big things, the work behind it, and being able to hold one in my hand, and flip it around, and changing the unit of the legs, the ears, the head, the neck, and things like that, so within the legs, what I had to do, in order to keep the figure, the reindeer, the body, they had, was put a very thin piece of water in the wax, so the reindeer would meet out of the wax, kind of wax, called victory brown, and wax holds up very well towards all the weight, and just the very thin piece of water, well, how hold up this reindeer, so there's a little piece of water going

down through it, legs and into the hood, and just up into the shoulder, and then that was the heart part, the movement of the body, and the head, and then that, so somehow you have to get all these parts working together, and the movement going, and the head tilted up, and not just static, but just like some movement of the head, the leg, and then looking at it, and leaving it alone, and then day or two later coming back, and looking at it, getting with arrested eyes, or mind, or whatever it is, that doesn't, I'm not sure, but, and then saying, oh, I need to fix that, you know, that's too big, that's too small, and going back and changing, so it's kind of overhauling at council until I get what I want, sometimes it happens very easily,

very quickly, and I get what I want, and other times it's kind of struggle, and eight of them, eight of them, right, with their own personalities, yeah, getting all there is, yeah, wow, it was fun, it was hard, but it was fun, but the thing about it is that, as you make one, and then another one, and then make their antlers, and see how they look side by side, and then you start giving this energy, this excitement ability, so that after wow, you can't hardly wait to make the next one, the next one, and then when you're done with the reindeer, then there's of course the slave, and the slave was a difficult part, because I don't know what the slave who does, right, so many years ago, in part one end of word glory,

for Christmas, and one piece of wood, and so I kind of like that slave, but it's not like that slave, because there's not a sense involved with that slave, or reindeer, it was just a slave with a little presence in the back of the slave, just something to go, and that was hard to explain, and so made the slave and didn't like it, and then made another one, and it still didn't look like, so finally on my third try, I finally worked it out so that it looks like possibly, not a tool, I'm not a slave, but a slave, and a place for cents, it's a set, and for its bag of toys, and the runners and all that, and then how do the reindeer pull this magical slave, they have to be connected, but when you look at the culture and the forces that pull a

culture wagon or whatever, and how they pull it, so there's single tree in front of a wagon, and there's a ton on some wagon, this long stick that goes out through the wagon, connect to the bar, and then they're attached to the horses, but so here I created a single tree, a single tree, there's this single bar that comes up in front of the slave, so that I could hook up the four reindeer on each side, to the slave, to the front of the slave, and that way they're connected, because I would imagine that they have to be all be connected, and I didn't want too much to make it too cold, like saddle, and harness, I mean, saddle, and then when I came to Santa, I did not want Santa sitting in the slave, like he was ready to take off, grab him his reindeer on the mix and on the mix and all that, I had him walking up to the slave, and he's putting

his hand on the seat, and he has his baguatories over his back, but it's right on, and he's getting ready to... That's the movement we were talking about, he's been in between, he's not in yet, he's not out yet, but he's getting ready to do it. Right, and the reindeer are getting excited, because and I heard this, like, turn to the left, and Santa's on the left side of the reindeer, so that he's got both toys in, and then they all hop in, and then off. They go. Where? No way. That's so exciting, because I like this idea of part of our relationship with Santa, and our history with Santa is that he's been rarely ever seen, right, and so some of you having to figure out what a slave looks like, especially a slave that's aerodynamic, and aerodynamic enough to carry this big elf, this big little elf around the globe, but it's really, you have to do some

homework, I imagine, to look at other slaves, and it's really figure out what would work, so. Right, I looked at some other slaves, and a lot of slaves that I looked at just didn't quite cut it, and so I guess I might have practiced it by simply creating the slave, and all that, so it's just my interpretation of why this magical creature, and his reindeer, and it's just a strange adventure, just exciting at the end of the year. Yeah, so you've been working for 40 plus years, oh that's the 40 plus question. So, Michael, you've been doing art. Michael, you've been creating artwork for 40 years now. What allows you to still have the energy and imagination to keep coming back every morning, and getting back in the studio?

I think it's really a lot. Love is such a strong thing, and if you have love for something, very deep to kind of love. The energy that you take care of it, and it's very precious, and fortunately, I've been given this thing called sculpting. Even when I could see it, I wanted this sculpt, and so I've been fortunate that, even with my disabilities, that I can still do it, and I love talking to them. It's so easy to get lost in that world, and it doesn't matter if it's clay, wax, stone, or any kind of material. I can't come across a thought, and these thoughts take over, and they start forming, I get these visual imagery, and I look at them in my mind as I, and I kind of,

it's like you're being photographed, and tossing it aside, and then you change it and move it around in your head. I feel like I come out with what I want, but then even at that, it doesn't always work. I can come back there and get away there, and then maybe I'll look. I got carried away, I don't know what I'm talking about. I was thinking about it, I think you answered it. I wanted to talk about your Christmases growing up, and Christmas memory, and then we end on the like, what's your wish? What were Christmases like for you growing up, Michael? When I was growing up, I grew up on the Santa Clara River Reservation. Christmas was not a real big deal on the road to the Indian side of it.

On Christmas Eve, they built these fires, these cross-subtle perhaps fires stacked up on like a little square of various heights. I guess what it is is bringing two cultures, two religions together, that of the Catholicism, or whatever Christian religion is, of Christ, the birth of Christ, and the lighting wave for the three... The magi, yeah. And showing in queer for the Christmases, the Mary and all that and so on. These Indians will like these fires, and they'll stand around and talk to you. It's just kind of a very nice happening feeling, I guess, that is there.

So that was incorporated into the cultural culture. But the most amazing one that I've ever seen is up in Tows. They'll take the saints out of the church and pick them for a walk before a boat's flight, and they come back. And they have enormous fires up there. And the breadloat, the house bill is absolutely beautiful, and it's multi-storey structures. And the site of this center plaza, and there's screen running through it. And if there's no underground, and you see these fires, and you see these people standing around it, you can't help but feel good about your life and what's happening. And if you're coming into the breadloat, and the fires are already going, you can see this massive wax coming up out of the center of breadloat. And it's just kind of...

Oh, images coming in my mind of those moments. The way that they used to vary, they looked pretty good, because they looked very, very, very, very wild. So there's this dance. Some beautiful about it. Were there dances? The next day there would be a dance. They would interchange some of years as the deer dance, but beautiful dance. And I've always looked at that deer dances as kind of a play of sorts, an Indian play of the deer, the hunter, the mother earth, and all of that, an Indian version of the play. And of course, the other provosts have their own versions of the deer dance. And sometimes they do the card dance and so on. And since we're a provost, often they get what they call the mullings, which sounds very... And there is a great deal of this, that influence in those dances.

And so these cultures over decades, they've got centuries of technology. And I've been made into a certain kind of dance connected to religion from both sides. I love how that intersection, I feel like you talked about that a little bit in the beginning, around just this real experience that we all share, that always happens at this time of year. It has certain symbols that happen around this time of year, regardless of your necessarily religious affiliation or where you grew up. Of course, we have our own rituals and practices and traditions affiliated with it. But it is a moment where everybody is observing something, or each other. And you painted such a wonderful picture of that on Talsburg Love. What was always familiar is that we would go with the tree in the old days.

We'd wander around with the tree and then eventually die with the sight of what it looks like. We'd talk about it and we'd all drag it back in. And then he'd make a stand and put it up and put it putting the ornaments on the tree in white and all of that. You can't help but get into the spirit of feeling of something special happening. Maybe it's the beginning and you begin something that's going on. That is the winner. That winner cycle of rejuvenation. So what is your favorite Christmas memory? Oh my goodness, there are probably so many. What was fun was when our daughters were holding up and we would sit around and make decorations of cookie dough

and they would paint them in wood with baked them and then we'd hang them on the tree. And they would decide what ornaments to put where. And of course, before we did that, we would go shopping for ornaments. So everyone picked an ornament. And so they came up with an ornament on the tree and then at the very end we picked up one of the girls and they would hold us in wood and put on top of the tree. And then that would be the end of that celebration of decorating that beautiful tree. And then Laurie sometimes, if not, could remember once. I don't know what girls are, maybe they're in college.

But I was streaming popcorn. And we had never stream that. That's your dream to be a story of luck. And there's fire going in the fireplace. And it was just sort of very peaceful about that moment. And talking about books, Laurie would read the girls the night before Christmas. And then send them to bed. And then I got to drink the eggnog. Thank goodness. That was great. That's right. Because I hear the Santa is trying to help your lifestyle these days. You might even be gluten free. I don't know. So I had a question that I forgot. Because I got lost in you painting these pictures of these stories. And I was thinking about my Christmas. Oh, this is it. And then should we go to the last question? This far younger viewers.

Michael, I've heard. I don't know these things. But I've heard that there are some adults that don't believe in Santa Claus anymore. But many of us, especially artists, I think are big kids. And we keep that excitement in our heart. What do you have to say to the people who don't believe in your Santa? If you don't believe in Santa, then you're missing help. Because Santa is happy. He's giving. And energy. And just the season. And we have to believe in Santa. Because as long as we're children. And we have that little bit of a child in us. And if we can still believe in Santa, then there's hope. And there's always something to look forward to.

Because you get cold. Oh, that one. So now we're going to get personal. We know you now as an artist. And personally, as a fantastic human being. But we were all children once and sometimes made bad decisions. So did you always get cold or toys in your stocking, Michael? Fortunately, I got toys. I got toys in my stocking. When the girls were gone, I went and came to the college. And Lori and I decided, we're just going to do stockings this year. So I went out. We both, we always hang our stockings on the screen of our heart. And I felt that Lori's stocking. And the next morning, I went out there.

And there was a stocking. One that I myself could fit into. She had taken advantage of our deal. It was just a stocking. And there's this massive stocking. There was always big boxes in it. And I couldn't believe she did that to me. It's usually the person who makes the rules that changes the rules. I don't know. Michael, what kind of... I don't know that answer, but... You did, you did fun. Maybe one more, a little bit like what the best things answer about you? What's okay. Oh, okay. What was your favorite gift ever? Oh, that's how I put my goodness. Too many, I guess, the best gift was... I guess, my wife, our kids, you know, I don't know Santa Blocking. Maybe this started well and maybe place keep it as well.

I don't know, but I guess that's the greatest. Get the wallets. It's my family, and that's what I think. It's all about this, Santa and Santa's life, and family, and enjoying it, seeing it, and living it. Not always easy, but for the most part, you can't be that happy. And Lord was right, you needed a pretty big stocking to get your family in. What wish, Christmas wish, or gift, if you will, do you have for our viewers? Just maybe a little bit different. Okay. Do you have a holiday wish for the kids? There you go. Okay, that's too late.

Do you have a holiday wish for the season this year, Michael? Oh, I want to all love each other. Sometimes it's not so easy. Not only in this country, in this town, in any home, but people, when we're just so similar, and we just look at our differences. But if we could look at more of our similarities and reach out and know that that other person feels and wants to live the same way that you do. And so I want to be committed to any more giving me the manner of sharing life, sharing life. Let's be happy, sharing life together, and we'll all be better off with it.

Amen? Yeah. Wonderful. Well, with that little thing, it's in the Scrooge. And God bless us, everyone. That's the only way. Right? Do you want me to start with reaching out? Maybe at least. Yeah. Let's get an hour. If we are done, let's get up. That was the out. Well, can we do like a thank you and just a thank you? Oh, yeah. Give us a chance to vote. Yeah, thank you. Yeah. A wide. Yeah. So that'll be the leading for this last little exchange. You could say that's wonderful. I think you know. Sure. Okay, we're ready. Ready? Okay. That's a fantastic wish, Michael. And you are a gift. I mean, thank you for being here with us today.

Thank you for having me. And it was my greatest pleasure to get us all together. And thank you, Santa, and the ring, yeah. It stopped? Yeah. Okay. It scored. Yeah, I'm rolling. I'm rolling as well. Mike, this is bunching again. Suck it in. Okay. Michael, so much of your work in the past has focused on Native American Heritage. And now we're talking about Christmas. Tell us why you decided to go in a different direction. For so many years, I've been creating sculptures. And I made the heritage vividly like the people that I grew up around. But as time moves on, we all change.

So as time progresses, I've gone into religious theme matters, into other cultures of creating sculptures of other cultures, and fantasy. There's a whole world of fantasy that I kind of got into a little bit. But this is the ultimate fantasy of so many people, because it's an annual thing. And because it's a magical and wonderful, and everyone gets into it. You drive down the streets in the winter, and you see the lights. You see satas everywhere. You see, you feel like hope, oh, oh. And I believe. And so now I want to, one day I woke up and I thought, Santa. But that all it was, one word, Santa, and it's a great deal.

And that started the whole thing. I started thinking about it. And then slowly I sat down and started to create them. But it's a whole different area that I've never been to. So it's different. It's new. It's exciting. And it's always time. I guess time came. It just somehow controls things. And it lets you, you know, within your soul, the time is right to make Santa. And that's what happened. So that's what I'm doing. Yeah, we can really use a Santa right now. Cool. Okay. That was a wonderful, really wonderful ending. Yeah, had fun. Did you have fun?