Linda Lomahaftewa Native American, b. 1947

Linda Lomahaftewa is a celebrated painter and printmaker whose art often represents symbolic elements from her Hopi and Choctaw cultures and the world around her. Lomahaftewa has expressed that her imagery comes from, “being Hopi and remembering shapes and colors from ceremonies and from the landscape. I associate a special power and respect, a sacredness, with these colors and shapes, and this carries over into my work." Lomahaftewa recalls identifying herself as an artist from the early age of 5 and her family supporting her talent.

Lomahaftewa was 15 years old when she joined the first group of Native American youth in 1962 to study art at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, NM.  She has said of her arrival at IAIA, “A whole new world opened up.  I didn’t know there was much beyond Hopi and Choctaw.  There were people from all different tribes that I hadn’t even heard of before.” While at IAIA, Lomahaftewa was given the opportunity to experiment with multiple styles and was particularly drawn to abstract expressionism.  She was introduced to painting in her senior year and found her passion. The strength of Lomahaftewa’s work at IAIA was noticed by the faculty who wrote letters of recommendation to further her art training which resulted in admittance to the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) in 1965 with a full scholarship.  

During her time at the Art Institute, Lomahaftewa absorbed new influences from the 1960s Bay Area hippie culture, popular music, to the design aesthetics found on street flyers. Abstracted landscapes were still fundamental to her work during this period recalling the desert Southwest however many of her drawings displayed vivid color and complex compositions.  Even her figure drawings and paintings became representations of land instead of conventional figurative works. Lomahaftewa completed her degree program and earned her BFA and MFA in Painting from SFAI in 1971.

Soon after Lomahaftewa began teaching with a position as Assistant Professor of Native American Art at California State College-Sonoma and later as Professor of Painting, Drawing, and Native American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.  During the years Lomahaftewa lived in the California Bay Area, 1965-1976, she was especially active in the Native art scene.  She showed her work in galleries and art venues often in group exhibitions with other Bay Area Native artists including Frank LaPena, Leatrice Mikkelsen, George Longfish, Harry Fonseca, and Jean LaMarr. These artistic circles have been an important influence in her artistic practice.  As Lomahaftewa states, “They fill a role like relatives.  We help keep all of us strong and supportive of each other.  We keep each other growing.”  

By 1976, through an invitation from her alma mater, Lomahaftewa returned to Santa Fe to teach two-dimensional arts as Assistant Professor of Studio Arts. Lomahaftewa continued to teach until her retirement in 2017 and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree of Humanities from the Institute of American Indian Arts that same year. In 2022, Lomahaftewa was the commencement speaker at SFAI and received an Honorary Doctorate Degree of Fine Arts.

Throughout Lomahaftewa’s career, she has been very active in the National and local arts communities, and has served on boards of the Native American Arts Association (NAASA), the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA), the City of Santa Fe Arts Council, the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, and the New Mexico Capitol Arts Foundation.  She continues to produce her work drawing upon her life experiences, travels, current events, and her culture. In addition to making art and teaching, she has maintained a bond to her community.