“I developed a true passion for Anasazi culture in the 1980s when my former husband and I excavated ruins on our property,” reports Claudia.  “As we would open up a kiva or room, I would get a very special feeling knowing that I was seeing exactly what the Anasazi left over 1000 years ago.  Excavating the ruins gave me a real appreciation of how the Anasazi lived.” 

     In her efforts to document the excavation, Claudia created a scale model diorama of the ruins.  Then, while rock hunting many years later, Claudia discovered some unusual sandstone in northern New Mexico.  “I knew I could create small Anasazi villages with this wonderful rock.”  

     Since October 2007, she has created several intricate dioramas, each requiring more than 150 hours of painstaking work.  She uses the sandstone as the base ‘ground’ and to carve the blocks of her miniature pueblos.  She makes tiny clay pottery and uses a toothpick to paint the pots with Anasazi designs in black ink.  Every little detail reflects Claudia’s joy in sharing what she has learned about the interesting lives of the Anasazi.