The Heritage and Artistry of Dan Namingha
Dan Namingha is a Hopi painter and sculptor born in 1950 in Keams Canyon, Arizona. A member of the Hopi-Tewa group of the Hopi Tribe, he grew up on his grandparents' ranch in Polacca on the Hopi Reservation. His creative journey began in childhood, drawing with coal on grocery boxes, and continued through formal studies at the University of Kansas summer art program, the Institute of American Indian Arts, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Now residing in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Namingha has been showing professionally for 40 years.
His work explores connections between the physical and the spirit world through the use of Hopi symbolism. Namingha views change and evolution as a continuum, seeking to balance the positive and negative polarizations necessary for the communal spirit of the universe. His art is held in prestigious collections, including:
- The Smithsonian Institution
- The British Royal Collection in London
- The Museum of Northern Arizona
- The Fogg Art Museum of Harvard University
- The Heard Museum
- The Wheelwright Museum
- The New Mexico Museum of Art
