Note to readers: The author has known sculptor Cliff Fragua for around 15 years. Under normal circumstances, a personal relationship would obscure journalistic objectivity, but this story does not deal with any controversy requiring such objectivity. The author has many long-time friends whose lives are not newsworthy. Cliff Fragua is one of a handful of exceptions.

Talk to the people of Jemez¹ Pueblo, N.M. and they will tell you that sculptor Cliff Fragua² has “made it.”  But to look at him and even to shadow him for several days you might not know it.

He drives a 1994 Ford F-150.³ He just sold a modest house in Rio Rancho, N.M. to build a modest house in Jemez Pueblo. His studio is covered in rock debris and dust. And he spent two days last week cutting firewood on BLM land to heat his mother’s house.

But Fragua has done something few living Americans and no Native American has accomplished before. His work sits in the U.S. Statuary Hall in the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. alongside statues of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and William Jennings Bryan sculpted by artists such as Alexander Doyle and Charles H. Niehaus.

Fragua was born 50 years ago in Albuquerque, N.M. He lived in San Francisco, Calif. for nine years in the ‘60s and early ‘70s. After graduating from high school in San Francisco, Fragua returned to New Mexico to attend the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe.

“I was there till 1975, but didn’t complete the program,” Fragua laughed. “Then I began the school of life.”

Fragua actually majored in painting at IAIA. It wasn’t until his second year that he decided to take some three-dimensional courses to help his painting.

“I was rooming with a guy from Saskatoon,” Fragua said. “He took the sculpture class a semester before me. He completed a sculpture and it blew me away. I said ‘Wow, I gotta try sculpture!’ Sculpture was what opened doors and my eyes.”⁴

At IAIA, Fragua was fortunate to study under the late, famed sculptor Allan Houser. Over the years Fragua would run into Houser who would critique his work. Eventually the relationship grew from one of student and teacher to more like a nephew and uncle.

Isaac Newton once said that his advances in science were because he stands on the shoulders of giants. Mayan and Aztec stone sculptures were a big inspiration early in Fragua’s career. Through the years, his giants have included Houser, Henry Moore, Isamu Noguchi, Benigni, Michelangelo, Canova and more recently Fredrick Hart.

“They studied and had a relationship with stones,” Fragua said. “They knew exactly what the stone was singing and saying. I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to view their works and see how they interpret that communication with the stone.”

As for contemporary artists, Fragua admires many working today – especially Ed Archie NoiseCat⁵, Preston Singletary and Duane Maktima.

Life as an artist is hard – even when your work receives considerable notoriety. And the economies of art have created many high points and low points in Fragua’s life.

“There were a lot of times when I hit low points,” Fragua said. “Life as an artist is on shaky grounds financially. What kept me going was my love for sculpture and for my family. Sometimes an artist has to take on another form of financial support out of necessity and I did other work at times. At one point I was with the Pueblo of Jemez department of tourism. I was there for a year and eventually resigned. I needed to go back to sculpting.”

As for high points, Fragua counts many, including his children, grandchildren and his greatest achievement to date - installation of the statue of Po’Pay⁶ at the National Statuary Hall.

“Another high point is being able to appreciate life and having opportunities to enjoy all the gifts that this life brings to me,” Fragua said “And having been able to have my eyes open to that. The things you learn from high and low points, the gifts you receive, you give it back in some form - to the community and others.”

Beside financial cycles, everyone has low points due to personal situations as well. Fragua feels grateful that he had the opportunity to pull himself from the low points and learn from them. Fragua said that there are things you have to do in life in order to be where you are in life to day – whether good or bad. He looks at those situations as gifts because you can learn from them. But was there a time when he ever considered not being a sculptor?

“Yeah, when sculpture sales are slow,” Fragua said laughing. “But that’s just a passing thought. Actually, my life has been destined to be a sculptor. I found that out after I left IAIA. I just couldn’t give up the knowledge I received at IAIA with sculpture. All my roads have led to sculpture. They led me to study in Italy and to the Po’Pay statue. I think that if I had taken one road it would have eventually led me back to the road I was supposed to be on – the sculpture road.”

Fragua has been on the sculpture road for 31 years now. He still has a love for stone and still drives from show to show. He loves being there in the art marketplace intermingling with artists and people that come to the shows.

“This whole camaraderie of sculptors and artists is still there and I enjoy that,” Fragua said. “My connection with the pueblo traditions is still there too. I’m back at the pueblo now and I feel a greater sense of peace and connection with my roots.”

Fragua’s first step back to Jemez Pueblo was in 1983 when he bought his grandfather’s old corn and chile field. Fragua and his father built a small studio on the land and he commuted 30 miles from Rio Rancho. It wasn’t until 2005 that Fragua sold his home in Rio Rancho to live full time in Jemez Pueblo.  But in one way or another, the pueblo has always been his home.

“The Jemez land is our tie, our connection, our umbilical cord to the earth,” Fragua said. “Like the mother, it takes care of us - nourishes us. So why disrupt it? We have that relationship because those who come after us, children and grandchildren, have to live and be nourished by the land, so why destroy that? I always feel like we come back reincarnated, come back in another life, and it would be sad to have to come back to a place that was trying real hard just to provide us with basic essential needs. I think that we have respect for the earth, for our environment, for the rains that bless us, the mountains that provide us with food and soil that gives us gifts.”

The Jemez community is a source of richness in Fragua’s life as well. There is interactivity that comes from clanship and from family. There’s a closeness in the pueblo where everybody helps each other and everybody knows each other.

Fragua lived in Rio Rancho for 15 years and barely knew his neighbors and wondered who he could turn to in a moment of need. Fragua came back to Jemez because people may not be able to give financial support, but they can encourage you and help out in other ways. Fragua gives back to his community in many ways including one-on-one instruction in art as well as serving for seven years as the chairman of the Towa arts and crafts committee.

Ralph Sarracino Sr., wood carver and the current committee chairman, used to take people’s pottery from the village to sell when he would travel for his carving business. Fragua suggested a committee or club to take the pottery out into the markets and explore ways to promote Jemez products outside of the pueblo.

“He took over leadership of the committee and worked to promote people’s arts and crafts,” Sarracino said. “He taught them how to deal with the public on their own and advertise their works. At that point it became tourism for the pueblo. People contacted Cliff to find out about pottery and jewelry available in the pueblo. He has been a great influence in this area. “

The Jemez community was present to join Fragua when he placed his statue of Po’Pay in the U.S. Capitol in November. In addition to family, friends, tribal administration and part of the tribal council, the greater community of the 19 new Mexico pueblos, plus the Jicarilla Apache were in Washington to support and recognize Fragua.

“It was an honor both to represent and sculpt a representation of the Pueblo people,” Fragua said, “and their contributions to New Mexico’s, the United States’, and the world’s history. Being able to create a piece that marks that part of history, that’s such a great honor. And I’m honored that the sculpture I created is there among all the significant personalities that have made history.”

Po’Pay is remembered as being a humble person, a farmer and having close ties to his community – a reflection of how Fragua wants to be remembered. Still, many in Jemez Pueblo like to say Fragua has “made it.”

“My idea is there is no such thing as ‘made it’,” Fragua said. “I live my life the way the universe and the creator has chosen for me. I see certain short-term goals that I strive for and hope to accomplish. My purpose here in life is to be good to myself, to my family, and to the people I meet. It’s all a part of what we’re supposed to do – keep the world spinning.”

So has Fragua, as the people of Jemez Pueblo say, “made it?” By conventional standards he doesn’t show the outward signs of financial success. If, however, you see him as a master in his craft, one of a handful in the country who have achieved this level of talent and acclaim, someone who is recognized in the art community and throughout his home state while at the same time living a lifestyle relatively unchanged from his early career, then the answer is “better than most.” 

They say it’s a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll, but the way can be longer if you’re a sculptor – and you might not even recognize the top when you get there.

To learn more about Cliff Fragua’s work, please visit his Web site at www.singingstonestudio.com

To learn about other Jemez artists, please visit www.jemezpueblo.org/artisans.htm

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