It’s hard to find words to express my fascination with or admiration for the work of Johnathan Naranjo. He comes from a long line of very talented pottery artists.

You can see where a lot of his inspiration and education come from - yet he has truly reimagined the Naranjo style of sgraffito carving and effortlessly shifts between a variety of styles ranging from dramatic realism to caricature and even art deco to whimsy.

This piece features a pair of Mule deer bucks and their female counterparts, grazing on tall grass amidst the quaking aspen trees.

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Artist Bio:

Born into Santa Clara Pueblo in 1987, Johnathan Naranjo is the grandson of Bernice Naranjo and nephew of Dusty Naranjo. He is one of the next generation of potters bridging the gap between ancient traditions and contemporary life.

He began working with clay early in life and developed his own distinctive style. Johnathan has also developed a keen sense as to when to pull something from the fire in order to get a dark brown product rather than the usual black. Then he uses his sgraffito tools to add a mix of contemporary and traditional designs.

Because of his firing process, he can get varying colors in his sgraffito work depending on the depth of the scratch.

Johnathan also won the Tony Da Award at the Santa Fe Indian Market for his intricate and innovative style of pottery.