Michael Kabotie, also known as Lomawywesa (September 3, 1942 – October 23, 2009) was a

Hopi The Hopi are a Native American ethnic group who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census, there are 19,338 Hopi in the country. The Hopi Tribe is a sovereign nation within the Unite ...

silversmith A silversmith is a metalworker who crafts objects from silver. The terms ''silversmith'' and ''goldsmith'' are not exactly synonyms as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are or were largely the same but the end product may vary great ...

, painter, sculptor, and poet. He is known for his

petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

and geometric imagery.

Background

Michael Kabotie was born September 3, 1942 in Shongopovi, Arizona to Alice Talayaonema, a traditional Hopi basket weaver, and the Hopi artist

Fred Kabotie Fred Kabotie (c. 1900–1986) was a celebrated Hopi painter, silversmith, illustrator, potter, author, curator and educator. His native name in the Hopi language is Naqavoy'ma which translates to Day After Day. Background and education Fred Ka ...

. He grew up in the village of Shongopavi and when the high school on the Hopi reservation closed, he moved and graduated from Haskell Indian School in

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

, Kansas in 1961. While in his junior year in high school, he was invited to spend the summer at the Southwest Indian Art Project at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

, other participants included

Fritz Scholder Fritz William Scholder V (October 6, 1937 – February 10, 2005) was a Native American artist. Scholder was an enrolled member of the La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians, a federally recognized tribe of Luiseños, a California Mission tribe. Schold ...

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Charles Loloma Charles Sequevya Loloma (January 7, 1921 — June 9, 1991) was an American artist of indigenous Hopi descent. He was a highly influential Native American jeweler during the 20th century. He popularized use of gold and gemstones not previously use ...

, and Joe Hererra (Hererra became a lifelong friend and a primary artistic mentor). Kabotie inherited his mothers membership in the Snow Clan and he was initiated into the Hopi Wuwutsim Society in 1967. During this ceremony he was given the Hopi name, ''Lomawywesa'' (Walking in Harmony), which he used to sign his paintings and hallmark his jewelry. His father Fred Kabotie helped develop many of the overlay techniques that have come to typify quality Hopi silverwork, and he learned these techniques as a teenager. He began to paint soon after high school and had a one-man show at the

Heard Museum The Heard Museum is a private, not-for-profit museum in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, dedicated to the advancement of American Indian art. It presents the stories of American Indian people from a first-person perspective, as well as exhibitio ...

, soon after dropping out of University of Arizona engineering in 1966.

Art career

Lomawywesa made artwork for close to fifty years. In the early 1970s Lomawywesa founded, with painters

Neil David Sr Neil Randall David, Sr. Is a Hopi-Tewa American Indian artist and Hopi Kachina figure, katsina carver. He learned the basics of carving from his grandfather Victor (Kawayo) Charlie. Early life David was born June 4, 1944, on the Hopi Reservation ...

, Milland Lomakema, Delbridge Honanie and Terrance Talaswaima, a group called

Artist Hopid An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

which was dedicated to new interpretation of traditional Hopi art forms. After that, Lomawywesa painted, made jewelry, wrote poetry and essays, and lectured around the country. His paintings and silverwork have an organic graffiti-like quality with dynamic motion and symbolism, with a rich color palette on canvas and an added dimension when rendered in silver. In his paintings, Lomawywesa combined traditional kiva murals, figures from Hopi oral history, motifs present in Pueblo Native basketry and embroidery, and contemporary elements of design. Compared to his father, who depicted ceremonies in his traditional work, Lomawywesa sought to illustrate the feeling, motion, and spirituality embedded within these ceremonies. Particularly interested in the Tricksters and Clowns of Hopi history, Lomawywesa thought it important to express their purpose of bringing about harmony through the exposure of human folly and imperfection. In addition to drawing inspiration from his cultural background, Lomawywesa was greatly inspired by music ranging beyond traditional Hopi songs including Gregorian, Peruvian, and Celtic chants, as well as music from Beethoven, Jim Morrison, and the Doors, music which he claimed " earcheddeep within for the inner spirit." Lomawywesa also finds cultural connections in Buddhism and Hinduism, relating them to the Hopi initiation process of finding one's inner spirit. Lomawyesa states that "finding the middle way is the essence of all spiritual movements and the essence of my art," motivating his search for harmony, spiritual unity, and self discovery in contemporary America. Lomawywesa's work, especially that in conjunction with his group Artist Hopid, has been compared to that of

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

Georges Braque Georges Braque ( , ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculpture, sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his all ...

Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...

, and

Vasily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj; – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...

for its visual similarities to cubism and expressionism. However, he did not know of these movements until after his work began to gain traction in the art world. Lomawywesa stated that both he and Artist Hopid drew from early Puebloan painters, only that they abstracted the same thematic elements of dance and song, emphasizing the motion within traditional Hopi ceremonies. Lomawywesa lectured across America, in New Zealand, Germany, and Switzerland. His works are in such museums as the

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

, Arizona, the

Museum of Mankind Ethnography at the British Museum describes how ethnography has developed at the British Museum. Within the Department of Natural History and Curiosities The ethnographical collection was originally linked to the Department of Natural History an ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, the

Sequoyah Research Center The Sequoyah National Research Center (SNRC), located in Little Rock, Arkansas, is home of the American Native Press Archives (ANPA). ANPA is one of the largest repositories of Native American publications in the world. The Center is also home to ...

Little Rock ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

, Arkansas, and the Gallery Calumet-Neuzzinger in Germany. Lomawywesa was Signature Artist for the 2010 Heard Museum Indian Fair and Market in

and a consultant to the Native American Arts Festival on Idyllwild Art's campus in Idyllwild, California for nine years up until his death.

Jewelry and silversmithing

Lomawywesa learned the overlay technique from both his father and Wallie Sekayumptewa, but did little silverwork until the late 1970s. Adding in contemporary construction methods, Lomawywesa's technique consisted of layering two pieces of silver on top of one and other, cutting the design into the top layer, and oxidizing or blackening the bottom layer to fill the negative spaces and provide relief like depth. His jewelry designs echoed his paintings, steeped in Hopi culture. He exhibited annually at

Indian Market The Santa Fe Indian Market is an annual art market held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe, New Mexico on the weekend following the third Thursday in August. The event draws an estimated 150,000 people to the city from around the world. The Southwe ...

from 1982 to 1999. Though best known as a painter, he considered jewelry his livelihood, stating to CNN correspondent Bill Tucker in 2000, "Jewelry is my job. Art and painting is my journey." Lomawywesa taught Hopi silversmithing for twenty-six years at Idyllwild Arts in California. Utilizing the techniques he practiced in his jewelry work, he designed the front gate for the Heard's Berlin Gallery and the

Museum of Northern Arizona The Museum of Northern Arizona is a museum in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States, that was established as a repository for Indigenous material and natural history specimens from the Colorado Plateau. The museum was founded in 1928 by zoologist ...

Death and legacy

Lomawywesa died on October 23, 2009 from complications of the

H1N1 swine flu In virology, influenza A virus subtype H1N1 (A/H1N1) is a subtype of influenza A virus. Major outbreaks of H1N1 strains in humans include the Spanish flu, the 1977 Russian flu, 1977 Russian flu pandemic and the 2009 swine flu pandemic. It is a ...

Flagstaff Medical Center Flagstaff Medical Center is a major regional hospital and level I trauma center in Flagstaff, Arizona. The hospital was founded in 1936 by Dr. Charles Sechrist as ''Flagstaff Hospital,'' with 25 beds, and was donated to the community of Flagstaf ...

in Flagstaff, Arizona. He was honored at the

in Flagstaff, Arizona, with an exhibit titled "Walking in Harmony: The Life and Work of Lomawywesa Michael Kabotie" showcasing his art, family, and local Hopi community. He was also given tribute by Idyllwild on July 11, 2010 with an exhibition that celebrated him as "an artist, teacher, philosopher, trickster, mythic archaeologist, and friend." Lomawywesa has a son named Ed Kabotie who is a pottery and ceramics artist and a musician.

References

Sources and external links