Southwest Indian Art Fair

February 23 & 24, 2013, on the Museum's Front Lawn

2004 Featured Artist: Michelle Tsosie Sisneros

Artistic expression is often born out of adversity. This is true of many artists throughout history and it is certainly true of Michelle Tsosie Sisneros (Navajo/Santa Clara/Laguna). The daughter of an alcoholic father, the sister of an alcoholic brother (now deceased), the wife of an alcoholic and abusive first husband, and through her own struggles with alcohol, Sisneros’ life journey is an inspiring one.

Navajo on her father’s side and Puebloan on her mother’s, Sisneros spent the first 18 years of her life on the Navajo reservation near Gallup. “My father was a police officer and not a very traditional Navajo man,” she explains. “I didn’t really know my relatives there and I never learned the language, but I feel I carry a lot of Navajo influence inside me.” She is now a resident of Santa Clara Pueblo (northern New Mexico) where she has lived since 1977.

Artistic as a youngster, she had a strong desire to go to college to study fashion design. While college never became a reality, her artistic expression was encourage by her mother and influenced by her Great Aunt Pablita Velarde and cousin Helen Hardin. “My mom encouraged me,” Sisneros recalls. “She would always take my drawings to be framed, and would even take some right out of the trash.” In 1976, her mother brought her work to the attention of Gallup trader, Tom Woodard. With his purchase she became a professional artist at the age of 18. Encouraged by Woodard’s purchase and further pushed by her famous relatives, Sisneros entered Santa Fe's Indian Market. Her work sold easily.

But an abusive marriage and the birth of a son would occupy all her time and attention for a while and her art would have to wait. “I couldn’t paint during this time. I had to make a living, had to take care of my son, and I had to drink.” After a divorce and after seeking treatment for alcohol abuse, however, her painting would wait no more. That was 23 years ago. “Painting is my full-time commitment now. It’s what I live. It’s what I do. I can’t believe how much my life is my painting.”

Sisneros never had formal art training or even casual instruction, yet her prodigious talent always came forth fully developed. “I truly believe my painting is a gift from The Creator. I look at it that way and I believe it because when I was drinking, nothing came to me. Now I just see visions in my head and it’s like the paintings are already done. It’s exciting to see the paint take shape.”

When asked to describe her work, Sisneros calls herself a semi-traditional Pueblo-Navajo painter. “My work has an abstract and even surreal feel to it," she explains. “I love to travel and visit museums and I enjoy Native as well as non-Native artists." In her work one can see her appreciation for the colors of Picasso, the forms of DaVinci, and the simplicity of DeGrazia. "I don’t think Native artists should put themselves into a narrow box.”

Still, her images (Yeis, clowns, deer, landscapes) are a direct result of her mixed Indian heritage and she spends many hours researching her topics so that she doesn’t inadvertently cross cultural boundaries. She cites Pablita Velarde, Tony Abeta, Roxanne Swentell, Norma Howard, and Robert Dale Tsosie as her greatest influences. “Their work just touches my heart,” she says. “Robert’s work makes me cry.”

Blessed now not only with her amazing talent, Sisneros enjoys a loving and nurturing partnership with her second husband, Murphy, and recently celebrated the birth of her second grandchild.

Sisneros has won many awards and honors in her career, most notably the SWAIA Helen Hardin Memorial Award, the Pueblo Grande Museum’s 2000 Poster Artist award, and Best in Painting at the Museum of Northern Arizona. She was the featured artist at the Arizona State Museum's 2004 Southwest Indian Art Fair, and won an Award of Excellence at the 2003 Art Fair for "Creator." Featured in several museum exhibitions across the country, Sisneros’s work can be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Northern Arizona and the Heard Museum. Her work is also collected by many individuals, including the actor Robert Redford.

All Featured Artists by Year

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