¡Colores!; 2407; Michael Naranjo, Christmas, Michael, Camera

Rolling, definitely a slight, yeah hold on put your hands a little more forward there you go. Okay sweet. All right. And the floor is yours. Good morning or is it afternoon? It's both. It's so just small talk it's good to be back and glad we're doing this again. It seems like we never left. Now we're going to jump right in. Great. Michael so much of your work is focused on Native American heritage, American, American, American American, American, American, American, American, American stories. Michael so much of your work

is focused on Native American heritage and storytelling from that tradition. Why do you decide that you're such a different being this time? It's always fun to try something different and something new since I've done so many pieces from my culture and of course from other parts of life in general every day life. 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're dealing with that one figure and what he's thinking and you give him a life and whatever else 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 that it affects and and of course children children are so important and when our daughter was growing up her teacher asked her when she was in the fifth grade who believes in Santa and she is the only one who raised her hand but it was great because if you don't believe in Santa you don't give a present so and today they're in their early 30s and they still get a present from Santa so as long as you believe in Santa you're in good shape and so it was exciting because of the reindeer the animal portion of this whole piece I when you I've been blind for over 45 years and to go back and try to make one was difficult the body movement the horns I didn't know with horns were like so so had to go check that out and went to a taxidermist downtown and he asked if I could

look at one of the male to the heads of reindeer and so I got an idea of what the antlers were like and how they are all different regal antlers just beautiful and the head is different so much from a deer elk so I did get an idea but of course being not a a realist in sculpting but more representational I made it the way that I felt like I wanted to make it but it's just as close as possible as being a reindeer and okay I'm sorry I'm still in sculpting I'm my brother and I was trying to hold the coffin I didn't want to disturb you because you want to

touch a rope I have water I don't want to answer shorter no no I was actually going to ask you a follow-up question what I find so interesting about which is you said Michael is that being like you said not necessarily a realist when you're creating sculptures but for many of us who shared this Santa Claus and this Christmas mythology there's a level of not realness to it anyway right 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 is difficult to put across carry across and let people know what what you see because I think I think that Michael already hit your second question

and how do you go about sculpting something that you don't have reference to you don't think we want that already I can go further into that Michael I can get that right okay so yeah I'll give like kind of a four end of the question we talked a little bit about this before the cameras came on Michael you lost your sight in Vietnam and I don't know what your experience was with reindeer before that but how do you go about sculpting something that you know you have no visual reference for the the great part about creating reindeer never haven't seen one before only photographs and photographs are so momentary you look at them and then you appreciate them and then they're gone

so the memories a slight faint faint memory in your mind's eyes somewhere but having until a great deal in my use with my older brother I would became very familiar with the anatomy of elk and deer and so that carries over into the movements of a reindeer and so they move the same way the bodies are somewhat similar so that helps a great deal and going to attack dermis and and looking at the antlers and seeing what they look like and how they can vary but what I want it with this with this whole thing of Santa and his his gang of eight his reindeer a beautiful bunch there they're they're horns these these regal antlers coming up and I gave them a nice faux mature antlers because I think it just looks pretty it really looks

pretty and and it's just the the motion the getting the feel of a piece at times I have to work at and so it's sometimes a motion that has to be right and sometimes it's hard to get all of especially if you're not familiar with the creature and and you've never seen one and and I'm not going to the zoo to go touch one I don't think I'd be able to but so going to the fact of dermis was as as ghosts as I could get to it which helped an enormous amount to be able to sit down and then try to recall recall what I felt for those few hours I love that you know the visual of you you know just kind of being these efforts 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 with 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 for the person who's experiencing the artwork the animals any animal out there are so graceful man the movement of men the human body is so graceful anything alive moves and it's graceful but when you get down to it even even trees Christmas trees are beautiful and they're graceful you know when the wind blows they move everything moves and most of my pieces aren't dramatic they aren't jumping and whatever else but just a slow movement sometimes is all it takes a gentle movement and of course Santa is a very gentle happy creature and and so sorry it's reindeer and so everything worked out

yeah I need the impression of some of your pieces that I've seen it is you know it might be a static piece as a sculpture but it's either just about to move or just finished moving and and that is really apparent I like that in between movement sometimes catching a piece that doesn't look like the that an animal or a person can move like that but it's that in-between motion that's really beautiful sometimes catching that that moment that's not quite normal you mentioned Michael that the the reindeer are part of what inspired you so it'd be interesting to hear how how the reindeer inspired you to create a little more about it's good that's it as the how the haze approach many of us are more involved with Santa than his reindeer

but you are focusing on the reindeer Michael so why what is it about the reindeer that we drew you towards this piece of work I I love the the whole concept of the the nature the beauty because of so much of my younger days were spent up in the mountains and and then being able to to be up there when there's silence and to see nature in its fear form and the reindeer gives that to me of going back in time and looking 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 through through their environment is just absolutely beautiful when you're sitting there and you don't know they don't know that you're sitting there watching them it's just there's nothing in the

world like it that is beautiful and I can just use the word grace and think of this huge crowd that they have on their head and being able to move so fluidly like floating you know and then I'm speaking myself to having seen reindeer but just need a big moose or a regular large deer with a large of the animals it's like how do you how do you move gracefully with something like that attached to your head you know right you know it is amazing what they can't do and and deal with the world that they live in out there and get around and it's just it's absolutely amazing and it's fascinating that they fly yes they fly oh yes reindeer my reindeer can fly and it's a kind of I want them to fly and and of course everyone always thinks of scent in his reindeer and zipping

through the skies and doing some research on this whole thing and looking at one photo of a silhouette of Santa's reindeer with the moon behind them these moments these pictures and you think of these reindeer just getting ready and and when we're going to do something that we love doing and I'm sure my reindeer Santa's reindeer I'll call the mine for the moment Santa's reindeer are so excited and they're so up for this journey that they're going to take and so they're ready to step high and the heads are up and they're lifting their their heads up and the antlers are there just this and read all that the whole thing about yes you know let's go and cover the the whole world and make people the kids happy it's just exciting there's actually a pretty cool mission yeah

next process so material process we're talking about Michael can you walk us through the process of creating your reindeer and Santa all in separate pieces because the reindeer's one one sculpture all eight of them we're calling one one section of it and Santa's another and the sleigh is another so they're all very separate and so in creating them um thinking about proportions and all of that and so first the reindeer I had to come up with and um deciding on the size that I wanted to make um because if you make them too big you're going to cover the entire length of the floor if there for reindeer one behind the other so they have to be a certain size that can be moved around

and so I had to think about little things big things like that I guess of uh also the the um the work behind it and and being able to hold one in my hand and flip it around and move it around and changing the movement 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 up the the reindeer the body they had was to put a very thin piece of wire in the wax so the reindeer were made out of wax and kind of wax called victory brown and wax holds up very well to its own weight and just a very thin piece of wire well help hold up this uh reindeer so there's a little piece of wire going down legs and into the hooves and just up into the shoulder and um then that was um that was the harder part the movement of the body uh and the head and the neck so somehow you have to get all these parts

working together and the movement going and the head tilted up slightly and not just static but just slight subtle movement of the head the leg um and then um looking at it and leaving it alone and then day or two later coming back and looking at it again with it with uh rested eyes or mine or whatever it is that does it I'm not sure but and then saying oh I need to fix that you know uh that's too big that's too small and going back and changing it so it's kind of um uh overhauling it constantly till I get what I want sometimes it happens very easily very quickly and I get what I want and other times uh it's it's kind of a struggle um but then to have eight of them eight of them and then yeah getting them all there and uh is yeah it was uh fun it was 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 how they look side by side and then you start getting this energy this excitement building so that after wow you can't hardly wait to make the next one and the next one and then when you're done with the reindeer then there's of course the sleigh and the sleigh was a difficult part because I don't know what a sleigh looks like one that flies especially so many years ago I carved one out of wood for Lori uh for Christmas and out of one piece of wood and um so I kind of like that sleigh but it's not like that sleigh because there's not a santa involved with that sleigh or reindeer it was just a sleigh with a little presence in the back of the sleigh just something to put on the mantle of the fireplace and so made a sleigh and didn't like it so I tore that and then made another one and it still

didn't look right so finally on my third try I finally worked it out so that it looks like possibly not a twig and not a sled but a sleigh and a police for santa to set and for his bag of toys in the back and the runners and all that and and then how do the reindeer pull this magical sleigh they have to be connected but uh when you look at a coach and uh and the four horses that pull a coach a wagon or whatever um how do they pull it so there's a single tree in front of a wagon and there's a tongue on some wagons this long stick that the goes out in front of the wagon bar that they they're attached to the horses but so here I created a single tree and single tree there's just a single bar that that comes up in front of the sleigh so that I could

hook up the the four reindeer on each side to the sleigh to the front of the sleigh and um that way they're connected because I would imagine they they they have to be all be connected and I didn't want too much paraphernalia and there to to make it too cluttered and just simple and just easy yeah and then easy enough for santa to get into and then when I came to santa I did not want santa sitting in the sleigh like he was ready to take off grabbing his reins and on dixamon vixamon all that isn't um I had him walking up to the sleigh and he's putting his hand on the seat and he has his baguatories over his back with his right on and he's getting ready to yeah he's not in yet yeah he's getting ready right and and the reindeer are getting excited because and the heads are slightly turned to to the left and santa's on the left side of the reindeer

so that uh he's gonna throw the toys in and then it'll hop in and and then off they go you know where nobody knows yeah that's so excited because I like this idea of part of our our our relationship with santa and our history with santa is that he he's been rarely ever seen right and so some of you happen to um figure out what a sleigh looks like especially a sleigh that's aerodynamic and every now and then i'll make enough to carry this big elf little elf around the globe it's it's really like you have to do some homework i imagine to look at other sleighs and it's really figure out what would work so right i looked at some other sleighs and a lot of sleigh sleighs that i looked at uh just didn't quite cut it and so i guess i used my artistic license in in creating the sleigh and and all of that and

um the rains the reindeer the works so it's just my interpretation of this magical creature and his reindeer and and his his journey and his adventure just exciting at the energy so you've been working for 40 plus years so uh Michael you've been doing uh we've been creating artwork for 40 years now what allows you to have the energy and imagination to keep coming back every morning and back in studio i think it's love uh love is such a strong thing and if you have love for something uh very deep true kind of love you nourish it 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 i wanted to sculpt and so i've been fortunate that even with my disabilities that i can still do it and and i love i just love doing it and it's so easy to get lost in in in that world and it doesn't matter if it's clay, wax, stone or or any kind of material um if if there's a come across a thought and these thoughts take over and they start forming uh i get these visual imagery and i look at them in my mind's eye and i kind of like looking at photographs you kind of toss them to the side or you think that was nicer and and then you change it and move it around

in in your head in my head i move it around and and until i come out with what i want but then even at that it doesn't always work uh i can come back a year later and then maybe a little work um i got carried away i don't know what i'm talking about anymore i wanted to talk about your christmas and scrolled up and christmas memory right in fact i know the end of the life was your wish and now we have a quite unique okay um what christmas is like for you growing up Michael? when i was growing up i grew up on the uh sand floor preble reservation and christmas was not a real big deal on the prebleau to us um the the indian side of it they on christmas eve they built these fires these cross uh little perhaps fires uh stacked up like a little square of various heights and

and uh i guess uh what it is is bringing two cultures two religions together that of the the pathosism and or whatever christian religion is um of christ the birth of christ and and lighting away for for the um the three the magi and uh and showing them where the where the christ figure is and marion all that and so so um so these indians will like these fires in the prebleau all over and you'll stand around and and talk and and it's just kind of a very nice happening a feeling i guess that that is there so that was incorporated into into the prebleau culture but the most amazing one that i've ever seen is up in taos um they'll take the uh

saints out of the church and take them for a walk before while it's light and they come back and they have enormous fires up there uh and the beautiful the the prebleau taos prebleau is absolutely beautiful and that it's multi-story structures on either side of this center plaza and there's stream running through it and if there's no on the ground and you see these fires and you see people standing around it um you can't help but feel good about life and what's happening and if you you're coming into the prebleau um and the fires are already going you can see this massive black smoke coming up out of the center of the prebleau and it's just kind of all images coming into my mind of of those moments i mean and the the the wood that they used they looked for pitchy wood because it would burn burn burn very well and so it was just there's

some beautiful about it where there are dances the next day there would be a dance um they would interchange uh some years it was the deer dance a beautiful dance and and i'd always look at that that uh that deer dances as kind of a a play of sorts uh Indian play of of the deer the hunter and mother earth and all of that an Indian version of a play and of course the the other prebles have their own versions of of the deer dance and and sometimes they do the corn dance and taos in Santa Clara prebleau often they did the what they call the malinchio or the monthichina which sounds very uh um Hispanic uh sounding and and there is um a great deal of Hispanic influence in those dances and so these cultures over decades and perhaps centuries have just kind of

you know and now getting made it into a certain kind of uh 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 this real experience that we all share and it always happens at this time of the year that has certain symbols that happen around this time of the year regardless of your your uh menacellular legislation or where you grew up uh of course we have our own rituals and practices and traditions ability it but it is a moment where everybody's observing something right each other yeah right and then when you came to such a wonderful picture of that one how's that uh what was um always fun was when um we would go look for a tree uh in the old days um um we'd wander around winter or tree and and then eventually

dad would decide oh that one looks good he has a chop it down we'd all drag it back and and then he'd he'd make a stand and put it up and and of course uh putting ornaments on the tree and lights and and all of that um if there's there's you can't help but get into the spirit the feeling of uh of something special happening maybe it's the the beginning uh a new beginning or something that's going on and hopefully it is in the beginning that one recycled original nation so what is your favorite Christmas memory? oh my goodness there are probably so many um what was fun was when our daughters were old enough and uh roots had around and make decorations out of cookie dough and and uh they would paint them and then we'd hang them on the tree and and they would decide um what ornaments to put

where and of course uh before we did that we would go shopping for ornaments so everyone picked an ornament ornament and uh so they came up their ornament on the tree and and then uh at the very end we I pick up one of the girls and and they would um hold this angel and and put it on top of the tree and then that would be the um the the end of of that that uh celebration of decorating that beautiful tree and then um Laurie sometimes at night I remember once uh I don't know where the girls were maybe they were in college but I was streaming popcorn and we had never strung that popcorn for Christmas and she was reading to me uh a story a book and uh there's fire going to the fireplace and there's just something very peaceful about that moment um and talking about books uh Laurie would read the girls

the night before Christmas every Christmas Eve and then we sent them to bed and I got to drink eggnog and eat the cookies so yeah so that was great so um I had a question that I forgot because I got lost in you paying these pictures of these stories and I was thinking about my Christmas my Christmas Eve um oh this is it and then and then should we go to last night just for our younger viewers Michael I've heard I don't know these things but I've heard that there's some adults that don't believe in Santa Claus anymore but many of us especially artists I think are are big kids and we keep that excitement in our heart what do you have to say to the people who uh don't believe in Santa?

if you don't believe in Santa then you're missing out because Santa is happy he's giving uh in energy in just the season um 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 did you get a call or 20's and there's a talking? oh that one so now we're going to get personal we we know you now as an artist and and uh and personally there's a fantastic human being but we're all children once and sometimes make back decisions so did you always get cold or

toys in your stockage? unfortunately I got toys um I got toys in my stocking and um when the girls were gone I went occasionally in college and Laurie and I decided oh we're just going to do stockings this year and so I went out and we both we always hang our stockings on the on the screen on the heart in the fireplace and um so I filled up Laurie'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 of just doing stockings and there is this massive stocking laying there with all these big boxes in it and I couldn't believe she did that to me

it's usually the person who makes the rolls that changes the rolls that how it goes you know well Michael what kind of uh that that that I don't know events of the question you did maybe one more a little bit like what was the best thing Santa okay oh what was your favorite guess ever oh that's oh my goodness oh too many uh I guess the best gift was I guess my wife our kids you know I don't know Santa brought them maybe maybe place the stock as well and maybe place keep it as well I don't know but um I guess that's the greatest gift of all is it's my family and that's what what I think uh it's all about is Santa and just life and family and enjoying it seeing it living it

not always easy but for the most part that you can't beat it and Lord it was right you need a pretty big stocking and fidget family what wish Christmas wish or gifts if you will do you have for our viewers maybe do you have a holiday wish for the season this year Michael I want I want us to all love each other and sometimes it's not so easy and not only in this country in this town and in any home but people where we're just so similar and uh we just look at our

differences but if we could look at more of our similarities and and reach out and know that that other person feels and wants to live the same way that you do and so uh I want I want people to be connected and a more uh giving manner of uh sharing life sharing life let's learn how to share a life together and we'll all be better off with do you want me to start preaching

three see if we can maybe at least let's get an out if we are done let's get a that was the out well can can we do like a thank you and just a nod to give us a chance to both be on three show and white okay hold on so that'll be the lead in for for this last little exchange you could um you know say that's wonderful okay we're ready ready okay that's a fantastic wish Michael and you are again 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 here okay stop okay thank i'm all over the floor well

my best is bunching again something okay Michael so much of your work is passed it's focused on the Native American heritage and uh now we're talking about Christmas tell us why you decided on a different direction for so many years i've been i've been creating sculptures from my native heritage every day life of the people um that i grew up around um but as time moves on we all change so as time progressives progressives i've gone into religious uh theme matters uh into uh other cultures of creating sculptures over the cultures and fantasy there's a whole world of fantasy and that um i've kind of gone into a little bit but this is the ultimate fantasy of uh 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 lights you see santa's everywhere you you see you feel like ho ho ho and i believe and um so now i wanted one day i woke up and i thought santa you know just but that all it was one word santa and his reindeer and that started the whole thing i started thinking about it and uh then slowly i sat down and started to create them but uh it's a whole different uh area that i uh i've never been to and so so it's different it's new it's exciting and and it's always time i guess time came uh it just somehow controls things

and and it lets you you know within your soul of the time is right to make santa and that's what happened so that's what i'm doing yeah we'll use the santa right now cool okay this is that was one really wonderful interview yeah