Pottery is a tradition in Johnathan Naranjo's family that predates his great grandparents. "I have been around Native pottery my entire life. As far back as I can remember I was playing with clay as a toddler, it was around me all the time. My grandmother taught me how to make a bowl out of clay. I observed my grandfather shape clay into a sculpture form. My grandfather on my mother's side of the family worked with sand and made sand paintings... Pottery wasn't my first passion in art, though."

"I developed my art style early on because of my interests in comic strips, TV cartoons, video games and other forms of media. Drawing cartoon characters such as Snoopy and Calvin and Hobbes with a pencil and paper was my favorite pastime growing up. It was for my own enjoyment that I illustrated them and little did I know it was honing my abilities to design later in life. In college I tried for the first time making a self portrait and that's when I discovered my talent for illustrating realism. When I decided to try my hand at making pottery for sale, I combined the two art skills together to make my own brand of pottery."

Johnathan has won numerous awards at art shows, including at the Santa Fe Indian Market and the Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair and Market. "I hope to continue venturing beyond with artwork until I achieve all my goals and aspirations. Then I will pass on my knowledge of the arts to my daughter and hopefully keep the family tradition going as long as it can."

Check out Johnathan on Facebook and Instagram!

FB:   / naranjopottery  
IG:   / naranjopottery