Carol Lee Sanchez

Carol Lee Sanchez (born 1934–2014) was a Native American poet, visual artist, essayist, and teacher.

Biography Carol Lee Sanchez was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She describes her cultural heritage as Lebanese-American and Laguna Pueblo. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Art Administration from San Francisco State University in 1978.

Career From 1976 to 1985, she was a member of the San Francisco State University faculty. After a brief stay in Central California (1986–89) she relocated to Central Missouri and has taught at the University of Missouri, State Fair Community College, Sedalia, Missouri and Whiteman Air Force Base, Knob Noster, Missouri.

Poet and lecturer

As a poet and lecturer, Sanchez was invited by the Art America Division of the United States Information Agency (USIA) to speak on Native American culture held in Germany and Latvia (Fall 1993). She has appeared on the PBS Television network reading her poetry. A past executive director of the California Poets in the Schools program (1976–78), she received her training and appointment as a Master Poetry Teacher while serving as Bay Area coordinator of the program (1974–76). Sanchez continues to conduct poetry workshops in the schools.

Artist As a visual artist, her "Works in Canvas" and other paintings have been exhibited in Northern and Southern California and in the Northwest states of Oregon, Washington and Montana. Her works have been shown at the University of California Santa Barbara Women's Center and UC Riverside American Indian Center in 1988 and 1989. Prior to their move to central Missouri, Sanchez and her husband (Thomas Allen) owned and operated Ha pa nyi Fine Arts, an American Indian Art Gallery in Santa Barbara, California (1987–89). Sanchez selected the artists represented by the gallery, curated individual and group shows & coordinated the gallery's guest speakers on "Contemporary Issues for American Indians in the United States". Her drawings, paintings & mixed media works are in private collections throughout the US and Europe.

Activist As a multicultural consultant/community activist best describes the way Sanchez has worked with such diverse community organizations as Ha pa nyi Fine Arts Gallery, Santa Barbara Arts Council, California Confederation for the Arts, Santa Barbara County Arts Commission, California Poets in the Schools, Artist's Equity of Northern CA, All Indian Nations Arts, Bay Area Video Coalition and Galeria de la Raza.

Educator As an educator, Sanchez served on the Faculty of San Francisco State University, where she taught courses in the American Studies, Ethnic Studies & Women's Studies Programs (1976–85); Excerpts from a mountain climber's handbook: selected poems, 1971–1984, Taurean Horn Press. Message Bringer Woman, Taurean Horn Press. Time Warps, Taurean Horn Press. Conversations from the Nightmare, Casa Editorial.

Anthologies "The Performing Poet As An Almost Storyteller" in Reclaiming The Vision – Past, Present and Future: Native Voices for the Eighth Generation, edited with James Bruchac, Greenfield Review Press. Joy Harjo and Gloria Bird (editors), Reinventing the Enemy's Language: Contemporary Native Women's Writing of North America, W.W. Norton. "Animal, Vegetable, & Mineral: The Sacred Connection" in Carol J. Adams (editor), Ecofeminism and the sacred, Harvard University Press.

Chapters in other books Gatherings, The En'owkin Journal of First North American Peoples A Retrospective of the First Decade, Volume 10, Theytus Books. Returning the Gift: Poetry and Prose from the First North American Native Writers' Festival (Sun Tracks Books, No. 29), University of Arizona Press. Gatherings, The En'owkin Journal of First North American Peoples Beyond Victimization: Forging a Path to Celebration, Volume 9, Theytus Books. Callaloo: Native Literatures Special Issue, 17, 1994, Johns Hopkins University Press. Joseph Bruchac and Dian Landau (editors), Singing of Earth, Walking Stick Press & The Nature Company. "Creating Urban Tribal Communities" in Judith Plaskow and Carol Christ (editors), Weaving the Visions: New Patterns in Women's Spirituality, Harper & Row. "Sex, Class and Race Intersections/Visions of Women of Color" in Beth Brant (editor), A Gathering of Spirit: A Collection by North American Indian Women, Firebrand Books. Janine Canan (editor), She Rises Like the Sun: Invocations of the Goddess, Crossing Press. Rayna Green (editor), That's What She Said: Contemporary Poetry and Fiction by Native American Women, Indiana University Press. Bo Scholer (editor), Coyote Was Here: essays on contemporary Native American literary and political mobilization, The Dolphin No. 9, University of Aarhus, Denmark. James Koller, Steve Nemirow, Caroll Arnett, and Peter Blue Cloud (editors), Coyote's Journal, Wingbow Press, 1982 Gogisgi/Caroll Arnett (editor), The Beloit Poetry Journal: American Indian Chapbook, Winter 1979. The Remembered Earth: An Anthology of Contemporary Native American Literature, Geary Hobson (editor), University of New Mexico Press Carol A. Simone (editor), Networks: An Anthology of Bay Area Women Poets, Vortex Editions. Ishmael Reed & Al Young (editors), Y'Bird, Yardbird Press, Vol 1 No 1. 1977–78.