Artist
Leonard Willeto
born 1955-died 1984
![Media - willeto_charlie_with_family.jpg - 90564](http://cdn.saam.media/15O8MOW0hjEsG7ePhzBzEbW0poA/960/0/center/cover/jpg/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ec1vt3scx7rr.cloudfront.net%2Ffiles%2Fimages%2Fluce%2Fartists%2Fwilleto_charlie_with_family.jpg)
- Active in
- Nageezi, New Mexico, United States
- Biography
Leonard Willeto was the son of well-known wood-carvers Charlie Willeto and Elizabeth Willeto Ignacio, and began carving in the 1970s. When he was sixteen years old he was run over by a pickup truck, was permanently disfigured and left school. Willeto carved no more than a hundred dolls before he committed suicide on August 2, 1984 (Chuck and Jan Rosenak, The People Speak: Navajo Folk Art, 1994).