While Native American artists have long been recognized as world-class masters in such artistic media as textiles, jewelry and pottery, they have only recently begun to take their rightful places among the ranks of the world's great painters. Here we present a look at the work and lives of four highly talented Native painters who deserve such recognition: Michael Kabotie, Mateo Romero, Norma Howard and Mario Martinez. Their creativity reflects the diversity of outstanding work being done in the field today by Native painters. By Dr. Gregory Schaaf.

Descended from the Hopi Snow Water clan atop Second Mesa, Michael Kabotie emerged in the late 1960s as an artist with a clear design vision. In the 1970s, he became a spokesman for an association of five Hopi painters called Artist Hopid, which still exists informally. "We, the Hopis, have a lot to offer from a spiritual standpoint and as a living force," he says, explaining the group's purpose. "We are hoping that from the presentation of our traditions and from the interpretations of the Hopi way in our art and paintings, a new direction can come for American spirituality."

Kabotie and his compatriots developed a style that merged traditional Hopi kiva mural painting styles from Awatovi, Kawai Ka'a and Pottery Mound (prehistoric villages) with dynamic characters from Hopi mythic traditions. They also drew from Puebloan textile embroidery and basketry designs, as well as dynamic characters from Hopi oral history traditions. Drawing from the rich historical Hopi cultural symbology for modern design elements was an approach also taken in the 1940s by Michael's father, Fred Kabotie, when developing a new form of Hopi jewelry, the overlay style.

Fred Kabotie also painted in a realistic style. Michael moved beyond this style to an abstract form incorporating strong symbolism. While Fred's paintings depicted Hopi ceremonies, Michael's paintings communicate the feelings, movements, prayers and spiritual meanings behind the ceremonies-prayers for rain, germination of seeds and purification.

Art historians may recognize qualities in Michael Kabotie's acrylic paintings reminiscent of the Cubism of Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and Fernand Léger. Others see in his work the Expressionist style of Russian-born painter Vasily Kandinsky. However, Kabotie and his circle were largely unaware of these international art movements until art collectors began commenting how their art seemed to be advancing these fine art styles in new ways. "I became so curious about these international master artists that I finally went to see an exhibit of their works in Southern California," Kabotie says. "For the first time, I saw original paintings by Kandinsky and others up close." However, Kabotie told one of his mentors, Santa Clara Pueblo artist Pablita Velarde, that his Artist Hopid group really drew its inspiration from early Puebloan painters. "I said to her, 'We are painting the same themes: dancers, singers, drums We hear the drums, the flow of the songs and focus on the movement of the ceremonial dress. The difference is that we then abstract these images.'"

Kabotie is deeply influenced by music, as seen especially in his "Chanting Series." Murals on the walls of Puebloan kivas reflect the chanting of sacred songs. While being fully initiated into Hopi spiritual societies, Kabotie also listens to Gregorian, Peruvian and Celtic chants as well as work by composers ranging from Beethoven to Jim Morrison and the Doors. "Their music searches from deep within for the inner spirit," he notes. He also sees parallels between Hopi philosophy and other world traditions. The Hopi artist has explored cross-cultural collaborations with Celtic artist Jack Dauben, and notes, "Hopi initiation is to find the spirit within and is similar to Buddhism. Our creator-destroyer stories of purification are like the tale of the Phoenix and stories in Hinduism."

Kabotie and the Artist Hopid described their purpose as being part of a "spiritual healing movement." By looking back into their ancient roots, they discovered that their ancestors transformed fear into sacredness. "The Hopi word for fear (utí) and our word for sacred (utí he é) have connections. How do we respond to fear? This is what the Hopi sacred clowns are all about." Their comic parodies of social dysfunction promote harmony within Native communities. The opposite of the "Hopi Way" is koyaanisqatsi, meaning "life out of balance." Concludes Kabotie, "Finding the middle way is the essence of all spiritual movements and the essence of my art."

Michael Kabotie will show his work at the 2005 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market. He can also be reached at his Flagstaff, Arizona, studio at 928/734-5248 or online at www.kabotie.com.

above right: "Changing Values," ©2003, 5' x 12' (2 panels), acrylic on canvas; above left: detail of Eototo, the Fire Priest, from "Sacred Eruption," ©2004, 3' x 5', acrylic on canvas, installed at Sunset Crater National Monument in northern Arizona.

Mateo Romero is a multi-talented painter, writer, educator and exhibit curator who has become a powerful voice in the contemporary Native American art world. He speaks with a keen intellect and loves to joke around. At the youthful age of 38, he communicates clearly with the younger generation, and he is a respected and internationally recognized artist.

Like Michael Kabotie, Romero comes from a Puebloan culture and shares a concern for contemporary Native American communities. Both artists were born into families with strong artistic traditions. Romero's father, Santiago Romero, was a student of the Dorothy Dunn studio program at the Santa Fe Indian School and exhibited his paintings in the important 1937 American Indian Exposition and Congress. Mateo's paternal grandmother, Teresita Chavez Romero, was a respected potter noted for her large storage jars and sitting figures, and she was one source of inspiration for Helen Cordero's beloved storyteller clay figures. Mateo's older brother, Diego Romero, also is a greatly talented and award-winning artist known mostly for his Mimbres-style and contemporary pottery.

Though he now lives at San Juan Pueblo north of Santa Fe, Mateo was born and raised in Berkeley, California, studied at the San Francisco Academy of Art and earned a B.F.A. at Dartmouth College. He continued his fine art training at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe before completing a M.F.A. at the University of New Mexico.

Mateo and Diego were dubbed "the Chongo Brothers" by their cousin, Mary Eunice Romero, a professor of education and curriculum at Arizona State University. Chongo literally means the bun hairdo of traditional Pueblo men, but the word further implies "joking playfulness." The term characterizes one side of their personalities: a wonderful sense of humor.

In the autumn of 2004, I met Romero at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe. I arrived a little early so I could view the popular new exhibit Rez3: Rezervation Rezurrection Reztitution, featuring the artwork of Romero and his good friend, Salish sculptor Ed Archie Noisecat.

I was talking with Museum Director Duane Anderson when Romero arrived with a big smile and his youngest son, Rain Romero, bouncing atop his shoulders. We sat down at a large table in the Buchsbaum Gallery of Southwestern Pottery, and first Romero fondly recalled memories of his grandparents while reconstructing his family tree. He noted that his grandfather was a member of the Koshare sacred clown society, and then he pointed out some of his grandmother's pottery among the large ollas in the display cases. An occasional teacher as well, Romero recalled, "When I did a mural project with Cochiti youth, we brought the children here to the museum for a field trip. Many of them suddenly realized they were related to the women who made these pots in this room." Art connects Pueblo people to their families, and their families connect them to the art.

Romero softened his voice when he revealed his traditional Keres name, He-tse-tewa, explaining its meaning as "war shield." Made from the hides of buffalo that once roamed the nearby Galisteo Plains, Pueblo men still carry these shields in special ceremonial dances. Old Pueblo war shields were said to protect their creators with an invisible force field of spiritual power, a fitting parallel to Romero's relationship to art.

The artist groups his mixed media works into two main themes: social landscapes and dancers. The social landscapes are divided into four main sub-themes: "Voices at Wounded Knee," "Bonnie & Clyde," "Indian Gaming" and "Addictions." He speaks proudly when acknowledging that one of his paintings from the "Voices at Wounded Knee" series was displayed for more than a decade at the Denver Airport. His "Bonnie & Clyde" characters are dressed in squash blossom necklaces and concha belts. One of his "Indian Gaming" paintings depicts a slot machine with three Pueblo "Sun-faces" in a row. "Some gaming promoter actually painted Sun-faces on the slot machine reels until Pueblo people demanded their removal," he says. "Addictions" have been a dominant theme in many of Romero's paintings. Like Kabotie, Romero recognizes important contemporary issues associated with addiction: alcohol, drugs and family violence, as well as gambling.

"Dancers" represent Romero's second primary theme, with the ceremonial figures emerging from darkness through the suffused mist bathed in golden sunlight. Italian Renaissance masters called these dramatic light-dark effects "chiaroscuro" and "sfumato." Innovated by Leonardo da Vinci, the techniques were developed in the Baroque period by Rembrandt and Vermeer. Romero achieves this dramatic effect by painting with asphalt, a most unusual artistic medium, illustrative of the daring drive this young man has to pursue his art wherever it leads him.

Mateo Romero will show his work at the 2005 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market. He is represented by Blue Rain Gallery of Santa Fe and Taos. His work can also be viewed at www.towa-artists.com.

top: "San Juan Series 8,"©2004, 22" x 30", mixed media; above right: "Buffalo Woman #2," ©2004, 36" x 52", mixed media; " above left: "Dawn 1," ©2004, 40" x 60", mixed media.

Norma Howard never felt the desire to move to the big city. She found her place as an artist in Stigler, Oklahoma, 42 miles southeast of Muskogee, and remarkably has ventured more than three miles from home only a few times in her life. "I can look behind my house and see where I was born and see where we buried our relatives. I can't leave my homeland," she says.

Given the importance of family in her life, it is not surprising that her meticulous watercolor paintings predominantly portray scenes of her homeland, her family and the historic lifeways of her people. "My family worked hard for what they have," she explains. "And a person is judged on how they handle their hardship. It's important that you remember to take care of your family. My mother and father showed me how they loved me-by being home with the family. I'm also home every day, and I show my love to my family that way."

Howard began drawing from her heart as a little child when her father bought her a box of crayons. "I didn't know what Indian art was when I was a kid," she says. "I started drawing on paper bags. I drew what I saw around me-sun, hills, flowers, water and houses." She also spent time with her grandmother, Lena Gibson Morris, whom they called Ipokni, a Choctaw basketmaker who wove plaited baskets from river cane. In 1903, Grandma Ipokni walked 500 miles from Mississippi to Oklahoma to homestead the land where Howard was born and raised. The artist speaks lovingly of her grandma's basketry. "Her favorite designs were diamonds, for diamondback rattlesnakes. Rattlesnakes are calm when undisturbed, but defend themselves when threatened." Ipokni's baskets were a source of inspiration for Howard, who later painted with "basketweave strokes," creating a unique style.

Her late Chickasaw father, James Williams, also encouraged his daughter's creativity. "My dad thought anything I touched was magic. He loved beauty. He was a house painter. He let me paint window frames. He taught me to go with the grain. When I painted my doll houses, he advised me, 'Whatever you do, do it the best you can do.'" Her father's advice helped Howard and her seven siblings succeed in life. More inspiration came from her mother, Edith Morris Williams, who told old-time Choctaw stories passed down from her mother. Both she and Ipokni were also master seamstresses and quiltmakers. "Mom sewed all our clothes," Howard recalls. "She made my dresses on an old pedal sewing machine."

At the age of 21, Howard herself was sewing for a living-cowboy shirts in a clothing factory. "They said Hank Williams, Jr. used to wear our shirts. In 1994, the company shut down and moved to Mexico. I was out of work. I felt hurt. I was lost." Shortly thereafter, she had a dream and woke up in the middle of the night. "I heard my dad saying, 'You gotta paint!' My husband, David, said that was a good idea. I thought maybe I could put a little food on the table. I started painting little Indian kids."

She sold a few pieces and kept painting steadily for a year. "In 1995, when I completed 34 paintings, I decided to show my work at the upcoming Red Earth Festival. My husband told everyone, and they put me on the front page of the paper. I was so embarrassed. I worried; what if I go back home without selling even one painting? On the way to the show, our car broke down. I told my husband, 'Let's just go home. It wasn't meant to be.' My husband said, 'We've come this far, we're going!' We entered one of my paintings in the competition. At the awards ceremony, they announced third prize, then second prize. Finally, they said the first-prize winner and called out my name! I was in tears. I sold all 34 of my paintings. That night we ate steak at the Golden Corral."

In 1997, Howard first showed her paintings at Indian Market in Santa Fe and won a minor ribbon, but four years later at the same event, she took the "Best of Paintings" award. She also won a ribbon the first year she showed at the Heard Museum Indian Fair & Market in Phoenix, in 1999, and she is looking forward to coming back this year. Her work is selling steadily, collectors covet it and museum exhibitions can't be far off.

Yet, Howard has not forgotten her humble roots. She advises young Indian artists, "Paint and draw what you like, but never forget your family. Don't forget your ancestors' way of life, your dances, your songs and your stories. But if you do forget them, at least remember that you're still an Indian no matter what! For me, painting is my soul. The part of me that is shy sees beauty in the heart. I express it with my hands. I just wish my mother and father could have lived to see me make it in the art world."

Norma Howard will show her work at the 2005 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market. She can be reached at her studio/home in Stigler, Oklahoma, at 918/967-4314. Her work is also carried by Blue Rain Gallery of Santa Fe and Taos.

above top: "Quilting," ©2003, 16" x 20", watercolor; above left: "Morning Mist," ©2004, 22" x 26" framed, watercolor; above right: detail of "Gathering Wood," ©2004, 12" x 16", watercolor.

Mario Martinez is an important contemporary visual artist who works in both abstract and figural styles, in oils, acylics, various print and drawing media, and multi-media and multi-disciplinary forms. Born in Phoenix, Arizona, he completed his B.F.A. at Arizona State University, and in the 1980s, he earned his M.F.A. at the San Francisco Art Institute and exhibited frequently at the American Indian Contemporary Arts gallery, as well as other venues in the Bay Area.

Martinez believes it is important for abstract painters to first master figural and representational fine art techniques. When he was commissioned in 1999 by the city of Scottsdale to create a painting focusing on his Yaqui heritage, he chose to present a traditional Yaqui deer dancer as the primary subject matter.

"I wanted to let my people see something about themselves," he explains.

Yet, he also finds abstract art the perfect form to express other scenes and feelings that interest him. "The reason I became an abstract painter is because much of our ceremonial life in Arizona is not supposed to be photographed, painted or drawn," he says. "They are sacred, so you can't make any objects or sell any objects that have anything to do with particular ceremonies. So, I always had this knowledge that you couldn't do that and thereforethe only natural thing to do was to go towards abstraction. The challenge was to figure out something to say about yourself and your cultural information without violating that trust and what the elders before you have said not to do."

He draws inspiration from many sources, but "the forces of nature," the artist reveals, "are the inner spirit of my paintings." His most prominent themes represent abstractions of nature. "I know where my symbols come from, nature, but that's only half of it. The other half is how it is visually transformed in the mind and hands of the painter."

Shortly after 2000, he moved to New York City and immersed himself in the international art world. "The first year-and-a-half I saw more great art-from the Renaissance to Postmodernism-than I had ever seen in my life," he says. "I experienced the amazing intensity displayed by old masters and the best of modern and contemporary artists. I painted in both figural and abstract styles, gradually working my way up to large canvases (7 by 12 feet)."
Moving to New York City was a major shift for the artist. But today, he is happy with the shift. "New York City, like life, has two sides. It demands so much, but it can give you so much in return. My life as a contemporary visual artist in New York has been an education, and well worth it! I like my work better than ever, and I'm growing."

In 2002, Martinez was chosen to be an Artist-in-Residence Fellow by the National Museum of the American Indian, a division of the Smithsonian Institution. As part of the fellowship, a selection of his paintings were posted online (www.conexus.si.edu). Now, his work will be included in a series of exhibitions at the George Gustav Heye Center in New York City titled New Tribe: New York. The series will feature retrospectives of three mid-career artists and a Native theater troupe. Martinez' exhibition will launch the series on January 29, and will remain on view through May 8.

The Heard Museum in Phoenix also has taken a special interest in Martinez, commissioning him to create a 22-foot five-panel mixed-media work that will hang outdoors. Its theme explores the artist's interpretation of the Yaqui experience over the past century in Arizona. It will be unveiled in May with the grand opening of the Heard's new signature exhibition, HOME: Native Peoples in the Southwest. The Rockwell Museum of Western Art in Corning, New York, also recognized his important place in contemporary art by including one of his paintings in their collection.
Mario Martinez can be reached through his agent Scott Andrews at 602/327-3786 or at mariomartinez1@juno.com. Or check out his new web site.

above left: "First Mesquitescape", ©2001, 72" x 72", acrylic on canvas; above right: "Celestial Home", ©2001, 70" x 68", acrylic on canvas.

Gregory Schaaf, Ph.D. (Cherokee) is the author of "The American Indian Art Series," featuring biographical profiles about almost 10,000 American Indian artists. He earned a doctorate in Native American history and a separate degree in art history from the University of California, Santa Barbara. After a distinguished career as a university professor of Native American Studies, he now serves as Director of the Center for Indigenous Arts & Cultures in Santa Fe, New Mexico.