_{Keeping Things in Balance:}
The Art of Dan V. Lomahaftewa

by Barbara Sorensen

Layers of color imbue the paintings of Dan V. Lomahaftewa. Reed-thin renderings of people, animals and celestial beings traverse across Lomahaftewa's landscape.

Their lucid movements echo petroglyphs and ancient ceremonies, yet there is an unmistakable overlap of modern time. An unassuming leader in the field of art, Lomahaftewa paints to convey his tribe's stories of past, present and future.

Dan Lomhaftewa remembers when he was three and building small villages of mud and twigs under transient shade in Arizona. At 16, Lomahaftewa decided to make art his life's career. It was a difficult, but not an intimidating decision. As a child, Lomahaftewa was surrounded by artists and craftspeople who filled his world with color and design. An aunt made pottery, an uncle Kachina dolls, another did beadworking. Two of his sisters still bead and paint. "Everywhere I looked I saw people making things," Lomahaftewa explains. "Our lifestyle promoted creativity. I was destined to do something like this."

Though art permeated Lomahaftewa's family life, the decision to go to college was not naturally connected to art making. "Going to college wasn't encouraged in my generation," Lomahaftewa says. "Most of us thought of 'blue collar jobs.' I saw a lot of my generation not choose college. I also saw a lot of desperation. I still examine the decision I made to go to college. I know that my mother told me, 'You can do anything you want,' and 'You can help your people.' But it was hard accepting the fact that I was chosen to be an artist. I didn't choose it, it was a calling." Once at Arizona State, Lomahaftewa stayed tightly focused on his work. "I really dug into my work," he says. "I was self-motivated."

The Reflection of Story
When explaining his art, Lomahaftewa says, "I'm reflecting ceremony, songs, color, dance and powwow." Lomahaftewa's mother is Choctaw and his father is Hopi. "I'm affected by the Hopi side more," he says, "because of the Hopi ceremony. There is a metaphysical thing going on when you're in ceremony. My paintings are deeply rooted in tradition, but my approach is modern. My paintings are affected by symbolism. They are ethereal, emotional and surrealist. I integrate all these styles to create a mystical, spiritual landscape. When you're creating something for ceremony, it doesn't have to be perfect."

Though he has a history of working in groups such as the American Indian Movement (AIM) and lending his art to particular causes, Lomahaftewa says his focus is mainly on the aesthetics of art. "I immerse myself in it," he says. "As an artist, I don't like to go into politics. People say that art is political if it's contemporary, but if I'm standing out at the rez and watching a dance that the tribe has performed for centuries and a jet flies over, is it [the moment] contemporary or old? Who makes those rules? My paintings reflect the lifeways, the story."

Art and Leadership
In the Hopi tradition, the father figure keeps things in balance. "Yet," Lomahaftewa explains, "nothing happens without the women. Ceremonies don't start without the women. Traditionally, leadership was a very natural event. No one aspired to it. Leaders were chosen based on their character and they never acted alone. They acted within the context of the clan and the people. All decisions were made by what was best for all people. Now, we need leaders for our young people. We've lost many role models for our young people. I have a lot of ambition to show others and pave the way for other, younger artists. Art has always been a part of Native cultures. It was embellished with symbols of our philosophies and the stories of who we are."

Lomahaftewa speaks easily about the necessity of art in school curriculums and how it can enhance leadership abilities in young people. "Your voice is important," he emphasizes. "Art is an expression of inner beauty. All people have this. Artists question themselves all the time because people don't need what we make in a utilitarian sense. What we're doing is a gift that we can give. The true art will come from inside of you. It's deeper than just knowing how to draw or paint. Focus on one medium and learn it upside own, inside out, and backwards. You must focus on one medium and learn it well."

The Unofficial Ambassador
Lomahaftewa spends much of his time traveling to countries around the globe. "There is a great interest in Native people in many countries in Europe and around the world," he says. "In Europe they are very critical of art because they have a long history of it. I made it a point to learn as much as I could about many tribes because people in other countries are so interested in culture of all kinds and in Native people everywhere. Here in America, people don't talk about the atrocities committed against Native people. They disown it. In Europe, people freely admit it. They're very philosophical about it. Many countries are very nationalistic and in that way they are similar to tribal people."

In terms of his art, Lomahaftewa searches out petroglyphs, stone structures and megaliths and incorporates different aspects of their shape, color and style into his own work. He has traveled throughout Brittania, Norway, France, Asia and Siberia searching for and often finding what he calls, "the global thread." "I keep getting pulled into it," he says. "Basically, I work towards the question, 'Is it good for all people?' If I'm successful in my work, I'm keeping everything in balance. It's important that the universe is in balance."

Barbara Sorensen is senior editor for Winds of Change.