Isleta Pueblo artist created eye-catching glass sculptures

Jan. 4—Tony Jojola was known for shattering the boundaries of Native American art by introducing a translucent medium that rarely if ever had been used by traditional craftsmen.

He took shapes and colors inspired by traditional Native art and pottery and molded them out of the molten material to create eye-catching glass sculptures.

"He was an iconoclast, you know; he was smashing the norms of what it meant to be growing up on the Isleta Pueblo," said Preston Singletary, a fellow glass artist and friend of Jojola's.

Jojola, 64, died unexpectedly Dec. 28 from medical complications from a bacterial infection, family members said.

They recalled a man who found ways to radiate positivity in his life and at work.

"We will always remember our father as a kind, loving and humorous individual who would always look at the glass half-full. He was always able to see the good even when things went extremely difficult, and that was what made him unique — where others saw flaws and mistakes, he saw opportunity and beauty, and he proceeded to convey this message through his work," Domingo and Mia Jojola, Tony's children, said in a statement.

They added their father was always smiling and always full of laughter and jokes. He was known for his infectious laugh and ability to meet strangers and turn them into lifelong friends.

Jojola lived in Taos for many years and often displayed his work at the Santa Fe Indian Market. He first learned to work with glass in 1975 at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe under art instructor Carl Ponca. After receiving an associate degree in fine arts from the school in 1978, he went on to attend the Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle. There, he apprenticed under world-renowned glass artist and the school's founder, Dale Chihuly, eventually becoming his assistant.

"Tony was one of the most generous and creative people I have known," Chihuly said in a statement. "Over the years, we shared many meaningful and creative moments together. ... Everyone on the team loved Tony deeply."

The school is also where he met Singletary, a Tlingit Native glass artist, whom Jojola inspired to connect to his cultural roots through his craft.

"I was still in the beginning stages of working with glass, so meeting a Native person who was working with it was an opportunity for me," Singletary said. "It kind of planted the seed in my head because of the work that Tony was doing was connected to his cultural background, and eventually, that's kind of the turn that my own work took.

"I always, kind of, credit Tony as being the original inspiration for me being a Native American glassworker."

Jojola went on to become the artist in residence at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine, in 1981. He then earned a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from the College of Santa Fe in 1983.

Throughout the decades, his work was displayed in various museums, galleries and private collections, including the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque and the American Indian Contemporary Arts Gallery in San Francisco.

In 2021, he was a part of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture's exhibit, Clearly Indigenous: Native Visions Reimagined in Glass. It explored the intersection of Indigenous themes in a medium that's not historically associated with Native American art.

In 1999, Jojola established the Taos Glass Workshop as a way to give back to the community by training at-risk youth. It was modeled on Chihuly's and Kathy Kaperick's glass workshop, Hilltop Artists, in Tacoma, Wash. The two schools were partially responsible for their regions' reputations as centers for glass art and helped lay the groundwork for the art movement.

Though his work was groundbreaking, Jojola still strived to hold on to Native traditions, such as bow hunting and fishing. He passed those practices down to his children, along with his love for art and glasswork.

"My brother and I both grew up, most of our childhood, in my dad's shop," Mia said during an interview.

Domingo added he even learned a bit of glass blowing from his dad and did it as a hobby.

"Blowing glass with my father are memories that I will cherish forever," he said. "It will be difficult the next time I pick up a pipe, knowing that he won't be there in the physical form, but I know he will be smiling and laughing from above."

Jojola was laid to rest Friday at Isleta Pueblo. He is survived by his mother, Mary Jane Jojola; siblings, Ray, Bernadette, Linda and Mary Jane Jojola; his two children, Domingo and Mia Jojola; his grandchildren, Cielo and Luna Jojola; and his partner of eight years; Rafalita Lucero.