Carol Lujan, Dragonfly in the Glittering World
Carol Lujan
1944-
Diné (Navajo)
Alternative Name
Carol Ciago Lujan
Date
2015
Medium Specific
Hand-cut fused glass
Classification
Glass
Dimensions
15 1/2 x 15 1/2 x 2 in. (39.4 x 39.4 x 5.1 cm)
Accession Number
2015.25.32.19
Credit
Membership Fund acquisition
Memo / Artist Statement
This piece is part of my “Glittering World” series. According to the Dine’ (Navajo) creation story we are currently living in the fifth world or what some refer to as the glittering world. The fifth world is filled with many challenges and also incredible beauty. The dragonfly, on the lower left, is carrying prayers from the glittering world to the Navajo deity (Yei Bi Chei’) located on the upper right corner. This is a metaphor for our desire to connect to the spiritual world. Much of my work incorporates the image of a dragonfly. Dragonflies are unique and amazing creatures because they can fly upside down and backwards. On a personal level, I include dragonflies in my art because it symbolizes water and my Navajo clan is Big Water (Totsohnii).
Biography
Carol Lujan, a clay and glass artist, is a citizen of the Navajo Nation and lives and works in both Arizona and New Mexico. She is of the Totsohnii (Big Water) clan and her original clan is Hashtl’shnii (Mud Clan). Art and the creative process has always been an important part of her heritage. Her grandmother, Molly Keams, was a noted rug weaver who supported the family by her weaving. Her great-grandfather, Thomas V. Keam, was a respected trader on the Navajo and Hopi nations and was influential in sustaining and marketing native art for both Navajo and Hopi artists. Carol’s contemporary clay and glass art is inspired by a number of factors including her family, her native culture and heritage and the beautiful landscape of the Southwest.
Early in life, Carol’s first art medium was painting and working with clay. To expand her knowledge and skill with clay, she attended art classes at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico and also enrolled in a class on traditional micaceous clay at the Poeh Culture Center’s Art Program, a Pojoaque Pueblo program in New Mexico. Several years ago, she became interested in working with glass when she attended a week-long summer workshop on glass and clay at the Santa Fe Clay Studio. This workshop peaked her interest in glass and she subsequently enrolled in a glass fusing class at Mesa Art Center in Arizona. The artist finds glass intriguing because of its beauty and its ability to capture and reflect light. It is interesting to note that glass is derived from the earth (melted sand), and although it is durable, it is also fragile. Unlike clay, which is soft and malleable.
Her glass art incorporates traditional designs into fused glass pieces including masks, bowls, platters and “glass rugs”. The designs on her glass rugs are inspired by her grandmother’s rugs as well as historical Navajo rug designs from the mid-1800s. These traditional indigenous designs and symbols, combined with the contemporary medium of glass, compliment and strengthen one another. She was commissioned by the Buffalo Thunder Casino and Resort near Santa Fe, New Mexico, to create a series of eight large (2’ x 3’) glass rugs with traditional designs. These glass rugs can be seen in the high limit room of the casino.
The artist participates in various art markets across the Southwest including the Heard Museum Indian Market, the Southwest Indian Art Fair, Pueblo Grande Indian Market, Native Treasures Art Show, the Santa Fe Indian Market and the Indigenous Fine Arts Market. She has received a number of awards for her glass and clay work from these various art venues.
When she is not working on her art she enjoys spending time with her family and friends both in Arizona and New Mexico. She also encourages her daughter and granddaughter to draw and sculpt and has renovated an old adobe home (in Taos Pueblo, New Mexico) into an art studio where they can work on their creative projects. In addition to her art interests, Carol has a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of New Mexico and is professor emeritus at Arizona State University where she was a tenured professor in American Indian Studies.
Carol is passionate about the creative process and continues to expand her knowledge about clay and glass sculpting while incorporating the indigenous southwest tradition and culture into her pieces. Her overall inspiration continues to be founded on the beauty, strength, endurance, humor and sovereignty of American Indian nations and peoples. She aspires to have these values passed on through her art and feels blessed and privileged to be able to express herself as an indigenous artist.
(from the artist, 2015)
Also see, First American Art Magazine, No.28, Fall 2020:28-29
Early in life, Carol’s first art medium was painting and working with clay. To expand her knowledge and skill with clay, she attended art classes at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico and also enrolled in a class on traditional micaceous clay at the Poeh Culture Center’s Art Program, a Pojoaque Pueblo program in New Mexico. Several years ago, she became interested in working with glass when she attended a week-long summer workshop on glass and clay at the Santa Fe Clay Studio. This workshop peaked her interest in glass and she subsequently enrolled in a glass fusing class at Mesa Art Center in Arizona. The artist finds glass intriguing because of its beauty and its ability to capture and reflect light. It is interesting to note that glass is derived from the earth (melted sand), and although it is durable, it is also fragile. Unlike clay, which is soft and malleable.
Her glass art incorporates traditional designs into fused glass pieces including masks, bowls, platters and “glass rugs”. The designs on her glass rugs are inspired by her grandmother’s rugs as well as historical Navajo rug designs from the mid-1800s. These traditional indigenous designs and symbols, combined with the contemporary medium of glass, compliment and strengthen one another. She was commissioned by the Buffalo Thunder Casino and Resort near Santa Fe, New Mexico, to create a series of eight large (2’ x 3’) glass rugs with traditional designs. These glass rugs can be seen in the high limit room of the casino.
The artist participates in various art markets across the Southwest including the Heard Museum Indian Market, the Southwest Indian Art Fair, Pueblo Grande Indian Market, Native Treasures Art Show, the Santa Fe Indian Market and the Indigenous Fine Arts Market. She has received a number of awards for her glass and clay work from these various art venues.
When she is not working on her art she enjoys spending time with her family and friends both in Arizona and New Mexico. She also encourages her daughter and granddaughter to draw and sculpt and has renovated an old adobe home (in Taos Pueblo, New Mexico) into an art studio where they can work on their creative projects. In addition to her art interests, Carol has a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of New Mexico and is professor emeritus at Arizona State University where she was a tenured professor in American Indian Studies.
Carol is passionate about the creative process and continues to expand her knowledge about clay and glass sculpting while incorporating the indigenous southwest tradition and culture into her pieces. Her overall inspiration continues to be founded on the beauty, strength, endurance, humor and sovereignty of American Indian nations and peoples. She aspires to have these values passed on through her art and feels blessed and privileged to be able to express herself as an indigenous artist.
(from the artist, 2015)
Also see, First American Art Magazine, No.28, Fall 2020:28-29
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