Larry Yazzie is an artist destined to create works of art since childhood. Among those he credits with helping him along the way is his first grade teacher who provided him the encouragement to explore his talent. "My first grade teacher let me draw during class and kept my drawings. She said to me, ‘when you become a famous artist, I will bring these back and show you.’ Her simple words and support gave me the first idea that I could be an artist and also gave me the encouragement to believe in myself."

Born on the Navajo reservation in 1958, Larry spent many hours in his grandmother’s hogan. "We ate sitting on the floor." He says. "My grandmother would stir the coals while she prayed for the children. When we ate, we would all share out of one bowl. This way, we learned to share and not be above one another. We each had the same food, the same bowl and the same opportunity."

Larry’s father was learning to be a medicine man, like his grandfather and great-grandfather, when he passed away unexpectedly. While he was still a young child, Larry’s mother remarried an ordained minister from the Northwest Coast and the family moved to Washington state. A Swedish man had adopted his stepfather and Larry would listen to his stories of the ‘old country’. "I accepted this non-Native elder as my grandfather." Larry explained. "At an early age, I experienced cultures other than just Navajo or Indian and it gave me an openness towards all people - an openness to discovering our similarities, not just our differences."

He studied art at Peninsula College in Port Angeles, Washington before being accepted at the Institute of American Indian Art (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico where he moved from painting to sculpture and discovered his creative connection with the spirit of the stones. He graduated from IAIA with honors in 1985.

The first of his family to work as an artist, Larry holds a deep respect for his culture. "Being Navajo, yet growing up away from my people, I realized the importance of culture - by being separated from it. I am now sharing my experiences and culture through my sculpture. Each piece that I bring to a show or is presented in a gallery, such as the Turquoise Tortoise Gallery in Sedona, Arizona, shares that culture to the observer and collector. Each piece has its own story, and offers a view into Navajo life and spirituality. I am sharing that with other human beings."