"Through a process of fragmentation and assembly, I visually condense my subject matter to convey the greatest artistry with minimal elements. I see myself as a kind of bridge between worlds trying to find that centerline of balance. It's not always easy, but I don't think it's easy for any human being." - Dan Namingha
Dan Namingha was born in 1950 in Keams Canyon, Arizona, and is a member of the Hopi-Tewa tribe. He studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Sante Fe, and the American Academy of Art in Chicago, where he was influenced by the work of Jackson Pollack, Adolph Gottlieb, Michelangelo, Vincent Van Gogh, and Norman Rockwell.
Namingha has been a painter and a sculptor for the last 40 years, and is one of the most acclaimed Native American artists working today. He paints and sculpts images of his homeland and the Hopi people. His works command unwavering respect for the earth and spirit of his ancestry, the beautiful heritage that is the heart of his creativity. His work allows us a guarded glimpse of his sacred traditions such as the spirit messengers or kachinas, which represent blessings, ancestors and cloud people. Namingha constantly challenges himself to try new styles, representation, abstraction, and minimalism.
Director of the Museum of Northern Arizona Dr. Robert Breunig said, "Dan Namingha's paintings and sculptures are among the most powerful abstract artwork being created in the Southwest today. His abstract figures allude to the timeless nature of life on the Colorado Plateau and the unity of the spiritual and physical worlds."
Awards:
Honorary Doctorate, Institute of American Indian Arts, Sante Fe, NM, 2009
Abbott Sekaquaptewa Award, Futures for Children, 2008
Visionary Award, Institute of American Indian Arts, Sante Fe, NM, 1997
New Mexico Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts, Sante Fe, NM, 1995
Award and Tribute from the Harvard Foundation, Fogg Art Museum Cambridge, MA, 1994
Selected media and books:
PBS Documentary, Dan Namingha; Seeking Center, 1992
The Art of Dan Namingha by Thomas Hoving, (Harry N. Abrams , Inc. Publishing) New York, New York, 2002
Selected museum collections:
The Booth Museum Atlanta, GA
The Fogg Art Museum Cambridge, MA
Palm Springs Desert Museum Palm Springs, CA
Museum of Fine Arts Santa Fe, NM
The Montclair Art Museum Montclair, NJ
Dahlem Museum Berlin, Germany
The Heard Museum Phoenix, AZ
Millicent Rogers Museum Taos, NM
The Naprstkovo Museum Prague, Czechoslovakia
Museum of Northern Arizona Flagstaff, AZ
The Reading Museum Reading, PA
Denver Art Museum Denver, CO
Selected public and private collections:
British Royal Collection London, England
Hallmark Collections and Archives Kansas City, MO
NASA Art Collection Washington, DC
Native American Center For The Living Arts, NY
Institute of American Indian Arts Santa Fe, NM
U.S. Department of the Interior, Indian Art Collection
Sundance Institute, UT
Robert Redford
Alan & Berte Hirshfield Jackson, WEE
Raymond James Financial
State Capital Santa Fe, NM
Fed. Reserve Board of Governor's, Washington DC
