Linda Lomahaftewa facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Linda Lomahaftewa
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Linda Lomahaftewa, 2009
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| Born | 1947 (age 77–78) Phoenix, Arizona, United States
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| Nationality |  Hopi Nation United States of America |
| Education | San Francisco Art Institute (MFA, BFA), Institute of American Indian Arts |
| Known for | Painting, printmaking |
| Awards | Robert Rauschenberg Foundation's Power of Art Award (2001), Honorary doctorate (SFAI) |
Linda Lomahaftewa, born in 1947, is a talented Native American artist. She is known for her amazing prints and paintings. Linda is also a teacher. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is a member of the Hopi Tribe and has family from the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.
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Linda Lomahaftewa's Early Life
Linda J. Lomahaftewa was born on July 3, 1947. Her birthplace was Phoenix, Arizona. Her father was from the Hopi tribe. Her mother was Choctaw, from Oklahoma. Linda's parents met at a special school for Native American children. Linda grew up living in Phoenix and Los Angeles, California.
In 1961, Linda went to a strict mission boarding school. She later moved to the Phoenix Indian School. In 1962, she started at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This was the first year the school was open.
Linda's Art Education
After finishing at IAIA, Linda earned a scholarship. This allowed her to attend the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI). Other artists like T.C. Cannon and Kevin Red Star also went there with her. Linda was the only one of her group to graduate from SFAI. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Then, in 1971, she earned her Master of Fine Arts degree from SFAI.
Linda Lomahaftewa's Artwork
Linda Lomahaftewa's art brings together old Native American traditions with modern ideas. She creates abstract landscape paintings. These paintings are considered some of her most powerful works.
Linda says her art is inspired by being Hopi. She remembers shapes and colors from ceremonies and the land. She feels these colors and shapes have a special, sacred power. This feeling carries over into her artwork.
Famous Art Pieces
Linda is very well known for her printmaking. One of her famous pieces is called Ribbon Shirt. This artwork was part of a big traveling exhibit called Indian Humor. It is a modern ribbon shirt decorated with many medals, buttons, and ribbons. These awards are from different Native American art shows.
Michael Abatemarco, an art writer, saw a show of Linda's work. It was called The Moving Land: 60+ Years of Art by Linda Lomahaftewa. He noticed that her art often shows landscapes. She also uses a collage style with real-life images. The show included some of her first works from the 1960s. One piece even showed a picture of Ringo Starr, the drummer from The Beatles.
Linda Lomahaftewa's Career and Awards
Linda has shown her art in many group and solo exhibitions. Some of these places include:
- The American Indian Contemporary Art gallery in San Francisco.
- The Heard Museum in Phoenix.
- The American Indian Community House in New York City.
- The Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian in Santa Fe.
In 1980, her work was featured in the National American Indian Women's Art Show. This show was put on by Via Gambaro Gallery. This gallery was started to highlight modern Native American artists.
Linda was listed in the 8th Edition of the International Who's Who in 1984. Her art can be found in many public collections. These include:
- The Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona.
- The Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
- The Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos, New Mexico.
- The US Department of the Interior, Indian Arts and Crafts Board in Washington, DC.
- The Southern Plains Indian Museum in Anadarko, Oklahoma.
- The University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada.
- The Native American Center for the Living Arts in Niagara Falls, New York.
- The Center for the Arts of Indian America in Washington, DC.
Teaching Career
Linda started teaching at Sonoma State University. She also taught at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1976, she began teaching art at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA). She taught there for over forty years before she retired.
Linda once said, "I'm happy that I'm recognized as a Native woman artist. And that I'm still doing work after all this time. A lot of people give up."
In the autumn of 2020, Linda Lomahaftewa was an Artist-in-Residence at IAIA. She worked in a special studio off-campus for safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, she created new artworks. Many of these were shown in her big exhibition at the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts in Santa Fe in 2021.
One of her new paintings is called Healing Prayers for a Pandemic Universe (2020). This painting shows hope with yellow, purple, blue, and gold colors in a night sky. It suggests new possibilities for the future. Linda said this painting made her think about what a prayer would look like.
In September 2020, Linda Lomahaftewa took part in the Smithsonian Archives of American Art Pandemic Oral History Project. This project recorded how artists and others in the art world reacted to the global pandemic. Linda was one of 85 people interviewed for this project.
Linda Lomahaftewa's Family
Linda has a son named Logan L. Slock. She also has a daughter, Tatiana Lomahaftewa-Singer. Tatiana is the curator of collections at the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts. Linda's brother, Dan Lomahaftewa (1951–2005), was also a well-known artist. Her cousins, Roger and Marcus Amerman, are famous Choctaw beadworkers.
Notable Exhibitions
- 2024: Space Makers: Indigenous Expression and a New American Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR
- 2023–24: The Land Carries Our Ancestors: Contemporary Art by Native Americans, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
- 2021: The Moving Land: 60+ Years of Art by Linda Lomahaftewa, IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, NM
- 2012: Low-Rez: Native American Lowbrow Art, Eggman and Walrus Art Emporium, Santa Fe, NM
- 2012: Octopus Dreams: 200 Works on Paper by Native American Artists, Ekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts
Public Collections
