Carol Lujan
Carol Lujan is an enrolled citizen of the Navajo Nation. She resides in Arizona and New Mexico and is a clay and glass artist. Art and the creative process has always been an important part of her heritage. She comes from a long history of Navajo weavers from the Big Water clan of the Navajo Nation. Her great-grandmother and grandmother and aunts were weavers and her great-grandfather Thomas V. Keam was a well respected trader on the Navajo & Hopi reservations in the early 1900s. He was very influential in sustaining and marketing native art for both the Navajo and Hopi artists (Keam’s Canyon, Arizona is named after him).
Carol began her work in clay and she has received awards for her clay sculptures from the Arizona State Museum Indian Art Fair and the Santa Fe Indian Market (Southwestern Association for Indian Art) and was the featured artist for the Arizona State Museum Indian Art Fair.
Carol's recent focus is on fused glass art. She incorporates traditional designs into glass masks, bowls, platters and even glass rugs. The designs used in her glass rugs are inspired by her grandmother’s rugs as well as historic designs from the mid-1800s.
In addition to her art interests, Carol has a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of New Mexico. She is professor emeritus at Arizona State University (ASU) and is now pursuing her art interests full-time working in both New Mexico and Arizona.
Carol enjoys the creative process and continues to expand her knowledge of various techniques while incorporating tradition and culture into her pieces. Her inspiration continues to be founded on the beauty, strength, endurance, humor and sovereignty of American Indian nations and peoples.
