Dan Namingha

Dan Namingha is a Hopi painter and sculptor born in Keams Canyon, Arizona, in 1950. He is the son of Dextra Quotskuyva and a great-great-grandson of Nampeyo. He is a member of the Hopi-Tewa and belongs to the Hopi Tribe. Currently, he resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Dan Namingha spent his childhood with his mother on his grandparents’ ranch in Polacca on the Hopi Reservation. He started drawing with coal at a young age and used grocery boxes as a canvas. Namingha’s interest in art was soon noticed by a teacher who created a makeshift studio for him and other Hopi and Tewa children. After attending a University of Kansas summer art program, Namingha studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Dan Namingha’s artwork is inspired by his heritage and explores the connections between the physical and spiritual world, incorporating Hopi symbolism. His passion for drawing and painting, which he developed as a child, allowed him to express his strong feelings about his culture and the environment, leading him to a path of creative freedom. He believes that change and evolution are a continuum and that the survival of the human race and the planet depends on a balance between cultural and technological diversity.

Dan Namingha’s artworks are in the collections of several renowned institutions, such as the Fogg Art Museum of Harvard University, the Smithsonian Institution, the Sundance Institute, the Wheelwright Museum, the New Mexico Museum of Art, and the Heard Museum. They are also featured in several foreign museums, including the British Royal Collection in London.