Weisman Art Museum is delighted to announce that Cliff Fragua, a New Mexico-based sculptor, has been selected as the 2025-26 Native American Artist-in-Residence at the museum. This two-year residency, made possible by grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the Terra Foundation, supports meaningful art-making, research, and interaction with University of Minnesota students, staff, faculty, and the MniSota Native community.
The residency involves both in-person visits to Minnesota and the artist’s work in New Mexico, culminating in the creation of a new work(s) of art which will be exhibited at WAM in August 2026. Fragua begins his residency in spring 2025 and will continue, working on his own commission and on research into the Weisman’s permanent collection with guest curator Juan Lucero, through December 2026.
About the artist
Fragua is a sculptor who works primarily in stone, with a studio in Jemez Pueblo, where he also resides. He has won numerous awards throughout his sculpting career, including a sculpture commission in 2000 from the state of New Mexico; Fragua’s statue of PóPay, leader of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, now resides in Emancipation Hall of the Capitol Building and is part of the permanent collection of the US Statuary Hall. The artist’s latest achievement is a monumental marble sculpture that is in the permanent collection of the Equal Justice Initiative Freedom Monument Sculpture Park in Montgomery, AL. His works are found in many public places around the United States.
Fragua comes from a family of potters, which includes his mother, Juanita C. Fragua, sisters, Glendora Fragua and Betty Jean Fragua. The family clanship is the Cornstalk People that comes by way of Zia Pueblo. His father, Manuel T. Fragua, is from the Badger clan of Jemez Pueblo. His mentor was Allan Houser, during the time when Cliff was attending the Institute of American Indian Arts.
These family and community connections are integral to his practice. “I am an artist who is committed to my tribal community,” Fragua says. “I believe I am an extension of my communities, and my work reflects my devotion to the Pueblo people.”
About his preferred medium and way of working, he explains:
Stone speaks to me by its color and sound. I look at the color and the characteristics of the stone, then I tap it to listen for a ringing sound. If it rings, then the stone is solid. I interpret the ringing as singing, hence the name of my studio, Singing Stone Studio.
"My connection with the stone involves spirituality and reverence for the spirit that dwells within. It has been on this earth much longer than man; the stone becomes the teacher. I am the mediator between the stone and the tools, the stone and the viewer. I visualize what the stone wants to become and I strive to help it blossom.
This project was supported, in part, by a “Museums for America” grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
