Dan Viets Lomahaftewa 1951-2005

Well, I am back from Texas and I am very tired. I have not slept for 24 hours (I've never been able to sleep on buses), so if this entry doesn't sound quite right, that's probably why). At least I had fun, even if I would liked to have seen a certain girl in Abilene.

Anyhow, I just learned that Dan Viets Lomahaftewa died at age 53 from internal hemorrhaging. For those of you who don't know, Lomahaftewa was a Native American aritst born of a Hopi father and a Choctaw mother. He was raised in Phoenix and got his education at Arizona State University. As a child, however, he spent summers on the Hopi reservation with his grandfather.

Lomahaeftewa was known for combining both traditional Hopi styles with more modern ones. He was also know for his vivid use of colour. He was named the first official Indian Market poster artist in 1993. He also received first place in painting at the 1989 and 1990 Indian Markets.

For a sample of his work, go to his page at the Shared Visions Gallery. For those of you interested in Native art in general, you might want to check out Kiva Fine Art, another good gallery specialising in Native American art.