Monty Claw, a Full Time Navajo Artist, was born and raised in Gallup, NM. His parents are Dennis and Ella Mae Claw. His is To'dichinii' ( The Bitterwater clan) born for the Ashii' ( the Salt clan ). As a young boy he has always wanted to be an artist. Gallup, NM was the right place for him to fulfill his dream. Being surrounded by great artists gave him the influence to succeed this.

As he was growing up he liked to draw and paint with watercolors and also watched as his father assemble Native American Church fans and rattles. Once Monty attended Gallup High he was motivated to pursue his dream as an artist. He took art classes taught by his peers Tom Hall and Kathy Noe. They taught him to print make and figure paint. Monty decided to try the Gallup Intertribal Ceremonial Art show at age sixteen just to get an idea of what it was like. For him It was a good experience to see such beautiful work. Seeing beautiful work helped Monty make his decision on where he wanted to go for college. While in school he work hard on his academics and art. While at home he feather worked Pow wow regalia's and beadwork.

Monty Graduate in 1995 with an Artist Achievement Award thus making his way the Institute of American Indian Arts in 1996. He majored in Fine Arts and Museum Studies. Though Monty did not graduate from IAIA he kept his dream to pursue a life as an artist. So he left school and studied on his own and worked as a Ironworker / Welder for various construction companies. Working construction on ten to twelve hour days and nights made it hard for Monty the pursue his dream, but he kept a note pad at his side trying to create new ideas. On a return home Monty met his wife  Kareen and decided to settle down. This brings to they're lives Elle Claw, his daughter.

Having a child of his own encouraged him to again pursue his dream rather than being far away from home. Construction was not the life for his family it was hard to raise a family with a temporary job.  On the side Monty created Art work to sell locally, but this was difficult so he decided to try the Gallup Intertribal Ceremonial Art Show in 2002. This attempt was successful He received a First Place and a Third Place for painting ( which he sold ). Having this success moved him on to his next show which was the Santa Fe Indian Market in 2003. Monty worked construction for two more years till he decided to make fan making one of his art forms for the upcoming shows. It was at the Litchfield Park Indian Art Market where he received his first Award for his Peyote Fans. From there on he has accumulated many awards and recognition from shows like the Heard Museum Indian Market, Santa Fe Indian Market, and many others.

The first fan he made by himself was his mothers fan with a little push from his father's expertise Monty created a fan that required no glue, but only stitch work held it together. In the beadwork he created waterbirds as the primary design. All this was created at the age of eighteen. Watching his father create these fans and rattles made him anxious to create one as well. The first thing he learned was beadwork all he was taught was to start and finish the beads from there he had to create his own designs. Most of the time Monty just watched as his father put these instruments together. Then the Ideas came to him creating his next fan. From there it was just trial and error, but there had to be little or no error because feathers were hard to come by.

To this day Monty keeps close to him the teachings he has learned from his family and peers around him.

As of today Monty and his wife Kareen travel together to shows across the country. They both work as full time Artists and now they're children are getting into it as well. With they're daughter Elle she too has accumulated many prestigious awards like her mother and father.