Through 3,000 years of artistic development, American Indian pottery has grown from a utilitarian craft into a fine art admired around the world. Major institutions from the Heard Museum in Phoenix to the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., have amassed valuable collections of both old and new pottery. It can be argued that perhaps the finest American Indian pottery ever is being created in our present era, by potters displaying a mastery of both traditional and contemporary techniques, materials and designs.

Two giants in 20th-century Native American art, Allan Houser (1914­1994) and George Morrison (1919­2000), are being honored in a lead inaugural exhibition at the brand-new National Museum of the American Indian. "Native Modernism: The Art of George Morrison and Allan Houser" will open Sept. 21, 2004 in Washington, D.C. as one of five major shows at the new facility. The exhibition will display approximately 200 works of art in several media.

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.