Glenda Loretto was born into an artistic family from Jemez Pueblo. Her mother was a potter and her sister, Estella Loretto is a renowned artist. Glenda graduated from the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe in 1993, earning an Associate of Fine Arts. Glenda started as a potter however in 2000; she changed her medium to jewelry and attended the Poeh Arts in Pojoaque, New Mexico, where she studied jewelry casting under the guidance of David Gaussion, well known Navajo/Picuris artist and jeweler.

Glenda has exhibited her work at the Santa Fe Indian Market, the Heard Museum Indian Market in Phoenix, the Wheelwright Museum in Santa Fe, and the Denver Art Museum. In 2009 her work was published in the “Masters of Contemporary Indian Jewelry” by Nancy N. Schiffer.

“I love textiles. I create jewelry based on the natural environment. My work comes from and focuses on nature, which offers many textures that I cast from the shapes and surfaces of twigs, cedar branches, tufa (volcanic ash) and cuttlebone that are transformed when cast into silver and gold. Patience, exploring and improving my artistic abilities, and creating beautiful works are all processes that come from my soul. I may visualize a piece that I want to create and achieve , but only the inner soul will allow the piece to create itself, and that is with an open heart and most of all by challenging myself.”