Oral history interview with Linda Lomahaftewa

Little Thunder: My name is Julie Pearson-Little Thunder. Today is Friday, October 13, 2017. I'm interviewing Linda Lomahaftewa for the Oklahoma Native Artists project, sponsored by the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program at Oklahoma State University. We're at the Institute of American Indian Arts [IAIA] where, Linda, you most recently taught foundational courses in 2D before you retired. You're Choctaw and Hopi, a very well-known painter, printer, educator. I look forward to hearing more about your artwork and your career. Thank you for taking the time to talk with me. Where were you born, and where did you grow up?

Lomahaftewa: I was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and I lived in Phoenix until, like, six or seven. Then we moved to southern California, Los Angeles area. My father found work there, so we moved to California. Lived there for seven years and 1:00then moved back to Arizona. I started going to the boarding school in Arizona until my second year in high school. Then IAIA opened up, and I came to Santa Fe.

Little Thunder: We'll talk a little bit about that. I'm anxious to hear, the first year it opened, I think, but in terms of your mom and dad, what did they do for a living?

Lomahaftewa: My mom, she worked for a little bit, but she basically, she stayed at home. Her and her sister took care of taking care of their grandfather, so that's why she stayed at home. My dad, he worked various jobs. He's an auto mechanic, but he did other jobs, as well.

Little Thunder: How many brothers and sisters?

Lomahaftewa: I had three brothers and one sister, and currently I have one brother and one sister now.

Little Thunder: What was your relationship with your grandparents on either side of the family?

Lomahaftewa: On either side? Okay, I knew my Hopi grandparents. My grandmother passed away first, and I think I was about seven then. I can't remember when Qua'ah [grandfather] passed away, but he lived longer. We would see him when we'd go to Hopi for the ceremonies. As kids, we would stay there for the summer and spend time out there. Then on my Choctaw side, my mother's side, the only 3:00grandparent I knew was my mother's grandfather, who was my great-grandfather. He lived to be a hundred and--. He said he was 110. He was pretty old. He's the only one I knew on the Choctaw side.

Little Thunder: Wow, cool. You know that for intertribal marriages, that Choctaw-Hopi combination, I think, it was pretty unusual.

Lomahaftewa: Yeah, they met in boarding school at the Phoenix Indian Boarding School. When Grandpa moved from Oklahoma to Arizona because of his health, he was raising my mom and her sister and brothers, so he brought them along. He was getting--it was too much for him, so he put them in boarding school. That's how 4:00my parents met.

Little Thunder: In terms of being around the culture and the language, can you talk a little bit separately about Choctaw and then Hopi?

Lomahaftewa: With Grandpa, that's all he could speak, was Choctaw. That's the only language he had, so I always enjoyed hearing him talk. My mother and my aunt could understand, too. They would talk to him in Choctaw, but we only picked up a few words like "hello" and "how are you" kind of thing, and "milk" and "meat," stuff like that... (Laughter)

Little Thunder: The important words.

Lomahaftewa: --and "come and eat." (Laughter) I forgot what the question was. (Laughs)

Little Thunder: Then, around Hopi language and culture--.

Lomahaftewa: Yeah, when you go out to Hopi, they speak in Hopi. Again, because neither of my parents could speak Hopi or Choctaw to each other, because two different languages, we were raised speaking English. We did know those important words in Hopi and Choctaw.

Little Thunder: In terms of public art that you might have been exposed to in the public school in Arizona, looks like you maybe were there for first grade, or first and second.

Lomahaftewa: Yeah, kindergarten, first grade.

Little Thunder: Do you have any memories of--.

Lomahaftewa: No, it wasn't until we moved back from California that we started going to the Heard Museum because my dad would sing in a drum group, a Southern 6:00Plains drum group. My mom--in the Southern Plains drum groups, the women stand behind the men and sing sometimes, so she did that, too.

Little Thunder: She was a singer.

Lomahaftewa: Yeah.

Little Thunder: No exposure to art, really, in the California school system, either, it sounds like?

Lomahaftewa: In California, yeah, we would go to museums.

Little Thunder: In school?

Lomahaftewa: In school, yeah. They would take us to museums, and we would see different--. The Southwest Museum, is that--.

Little Thunder: Yeah, the Autry Museum of the [American West].

Lomahaftewa: I guess way back, it was just the Southwest Museum.

Little Thunder: Called the Southwest Museum or something.

Lomahaftewa: That and orchestras, the school would take us to that, so that was a good exposure.

Little Thunder: Those were good exposures. What is your first memory of seeing 7:00Native art?

Lomahaftewa: I don't know why I think always of Fred Kabotie when I think of Native art right away because, in Arizona and being Hopi, he illustrated a lot of books. I always liked looking at his illustrations because we're from the same village. When I see the pictures of the ceremonies in the Plaza, I know right where I sit in the Plaza. Those are really memorable to me, seeing his artwork.

Little Thunder: Seeing his artwork at a young age. How about your first memory of making art?

Lomahaftewa: My first memory, a lot of kids, they start out by copying comic 8:00books, so that's what I did, comic books and drawing in general. I don't know why I was singled out because my brothers and sister, we all did it. For some reason, I guess, I took to it more than they did. They started calling me the artist of the family. (Laughter) I was always trying to make things, and I was always painting and drawing. For Christmas and birthdays, I would get art supplies or paint-by-number kits, things like that.

Little Thunder: Your parents were real supportive of--.

Lomahaftewa: Yeah, the whole family, so they called me the artist of the family. (Laughs)

Little Thunder: Is that an identity you took on? Did you think of yourself in that way?

Lomahaftewa: Yeah, that's what's crazy about it because (don't quote me on that 9:00one) my whole family, everyone did something. My mom used to bead, long time ago. Of course, my dad carves Kachina dolls and paints them. We all did something. Like I said, with being in the city, we would go to powwows, and my brothers would dance. They would make their outfits and put them together. My sister used to bead. We all had some form of art that we did, but they always called me the artist. (Laughter)

Little Thunder: They were right about that, too. (Laughter) Talk a little bit about how you go to California, and you're going to school there. Then you come back to--you go back to Phoenix. You end up at the Institute of American Indian 10:00Arts. How did you find out about it?

Lomahaftewa: The first boarding school that we went to was in Holbrook. It was a mission boarding school. We were there for half a semester because we had just moved back. We didn't like going to that school.

Little Thunder: I was going to say, can you talk about that a bit because you're going from California school system to this mission boarding school?

Lomahaftewa: Boarding school, which was really strict. It was run by the Seventh-day Adventists, and we just weren't used to that way. The following fall, we all, my sister, brother, and I, went to the Phoenix Indian Boarding School, so it was right there in Phoenix.

Little Thunder: Did you get any kind of an art base there?

Lomahaftewa: You know, I don't remember any art classes there. It was just regular high school curriculum, home economics and things like that, but I don't remember any art there. I was there for the first year, my freshman year, and I think it was in the spring semester that I got a phone call from my mom when I was at school. She said, "I read in the paper they're going to open up this Indian art school in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Do you want to go?" I didn't think about, "I don't even know where Santa Fe is." She said, "Do you want to go?" I said, "Yes," and so that summer we proceeded to do the paperwork to get me into IAIA.

Little Thunder: Did you come in on the bus, or did your parents drive you? What were your first impressions of it?

Lomahaftewa: It was a whole different scene for me, the scenery, a different kind of landscape than what I was used to. I wasn't that impressed, (Laughter) but I got used to it. It was all a new experience for me. It was just all new, so you just--.

Little Thunder: Did they bring you up? Did your parents bring you?

Lomahaftewa: My dad brought me, yeah, drove me over. That's when I started going to IAIA.

Little Thunder: Did they allow you to have a focus at that point, that first year? What was the program?

Lomahaftewa: No, I was in high school. You would get your regular curriculum, 13:00your basics, English, math, and social studies, and then classes on Native culture, (it was called Indian Aesthetics at the time) and some art classes.

Little Thunder: Who taught the Indian Aesthetics class?

Lomahaftewa: It was a team-taught class. All the Native instructors that were teaching, Otellie Loloma, Charles Loloma, Allan Houser, all the Native instructors that were here, they team-taught. They talked about their culture and how they use their culture to make their artwork, Lloyd [Kiva] New. It was good.

Little Thunder: Great combination. Who was your favorite?

Lomahaftewa: I don't know because they were all good. It was just interesting to 14:00learn all that. Then, because the students came from all over the United States, it was learning everyone's tribal affiliations and their culture. That's what was really exciting, too.

Little Thunder: Right, because the students brought a lot to the table in terms of your intertribal knowledge. Had you been doing Native subject matter as a child? Then coming into this art program, how did that--.

Lomahaftewa: I basically did landscape drawings, like the yucca plants and the desert scenes--

Little Thunder: Kind of realistic?

Lomahaftewa: --yeah, but not so much any other Native designs yet.

Little Thunder: When did you first start taking painting or printmaking at IAIA?

Lomahaftewa: Okay, it wasn't until--I was studying the whole time in high school. I thought I wanted to be a commercial artist. That's what they called it at the time.

Little Thunder: I saw that. They had that track for you.

Lomahaftewa: Yeah, that's what I was leaning towards, commercial art, like lettering and illustration and now, the computer. We didn't have computers then. (Laughs)

Little Thunder: Right, and using a realistic approach to drawing and things.

Lomahaftewa: Yeah, so a lot of drawing classes. It wasn't until my senior year of high school, my advisor was Jim McGrath. He said to me, "I think you should try painting. Your work is tending--I think you should try painting. It leans 16:00towards the fine arts." I said, "Okay." That was when I started painting, my last year of high school.

Little Thunder: What medium were you working with, acrylics or oils?

Lomahaftewa: Oils, yeah, so at that time--.

Little Thunder: What did you like about painting?

Lomahaftewa: The freedom that you could just make anything, paint anything, it wasn't real strict. Again, in the studio, we're all learning from each other. Just watching what everyone else did, I would try that technique, a lot of experimenting, collaging, and painting, a lot of abstract-type paintings.

Little Thunder: Who were some of your studio classmates that we might recognize?

Lomahaftewa: We were all in a classroom together. We had little cubby sections that we were assigned to work in. Kevin Red Star, Hank Gobin, Phyllis Fife, Rowena Dickerson, Earl Eder, Earl Biss, those were my classmates. There was more, but those are the ones that I can remember.

Little Thunder: Yes, great slate of artists, too. You're painting. You've started painting, and then I think McGrath talked to you a bit about going to California?

Lomahaftewa: Yeah, my last year of high school was painting. Then he suggested that I go continue on and get my BFA [bachelor's degree of fine arts] at a fine 18:00arts school, so he suggested Chicago or San Francisco. When I talked it over with my parents, my mom said San Francisco was closer, so that's where I applied. I was accepted, so I got scholarships to go to the Art Institute in San Francisco.

Little Thunder: That's wonderful, and you knew California a little bit.

Lomahaftewa: Yeah, but when we grew up, when we were in California before, we were in southern California. That's totally different from northern. San Francisco Bay area, that's a whole different--.

Little Thunder: A hotbed of activism, too, right? (Laughter) When you got to--is it called SFA, San Francisco Art Institute?

Lomahaftewa: SFAI.

Little Thunder: Did you have to declare a major right away? How did that work?

Lomahaftewa: You had to declare a major, but you still had to take courses that were 2D and 3D courses. I declared painting as my major, but I had to take ceramics and sculpture and other classes.

Little Thunder: Were there some other Native students in your classes?

Lomahaftewa: Oh, yeah, there was a bunch of us that went out at that time. Again, we stuck together, Hank Gobin and Earl Biss, Earl Eder, Kevin Red Star, Jim St. Martin, and Carol Fraser, and another Navajo woman. They had gone ahead of us, so they were already in San Francisco.

Little Thunder: That's nice.

Lomahaftewa: Knowing that I had those people to look up to or hang out with, that's what kept me going or staying in school because I had a cohort group to keep me going, to keep me in school.

Little Thunder: Right, right, that support system. How about community, some of the activist movements or community engagement? Did you have time to get involved?

Lomahaftewa: I felt like I didn't have time because I was in school. The takeover of Alcatraz started up. I saw that as it was important for that to 21:00happen, but again, I felt like I was in school. My money was coming from the government. I had the government scholarship to attend school, so I thought I better just go to school and not do the activism part. I did support it by putting my work into art shows that supported the Alcatraz movement and the Wounded Knee movement that came after that.

Little Thunder: Cool, so were those some of the first galleries, also, that you ended up dealing with? Was that there in San Francisco?

Lomahaftewa: Yes, yes.

Little Thunder: What was an important early gallery?

Lomahaftewa: Again, because we were all in a group together, we were already getting invited to be in shows like in Washington, DC. We'd send our artwork out 22:00for different shows out there, and selling the work. They didn't want us to sell our work when you're in school. They didn't want you to paint to sell.

Little Thunder: Right, although, did you? (Laughs)

Lomahaftewa: Yes, we did (Laughter) because we had to buy supplies, and it was an incentive to paint and sell. I didn't sell a lot.

Little Thunder: At that level then, when you're finally in college, then you have that freedom to really go for it.

Lomahaftewa: There was this organization called American Indian Historical Society. It was a really small organization run by Rupert [Costo], who was 23:00Cahuilla, California Indian, and his wife, Jeanette. This is in San Francisco. They started inviting us to be in shows in their center, so we would have shown up there. That's when I first met R. C. Gorman, was at the Historical Society.

Little Thunder: Oh, wow, what were your first impressions of him?

Lomahaftewa: He actually came--it was my first exposure to being at an opening, and I didn't know what to do or anything. (Laughs) He did come up to me and said, "You need to get out there and talk to the people," because I was so shy. I was really shy. "You need to get out there and talk to the people," so I 24:00remember that about him. (Laughter)

Little Thunder: He was a good encourager. I've heard it that way. (Laughs) In terms of printmaking, monoprints and things like that, did you get your background at the Institute, or was it at SFAI?

Lomahaftewa: At the Art Institute, like I said, you had to study all the different disciplines of fine art. I did take a lithography class where you have to grind the stone and prepare it. It's a whole process. I really enjoyed that. I really got into that, but I never thought this was going to be my field that I was going to go into. I enjoyed doing that and producing prints, or making prints, but like I said, I never thought that was going to be my--. I thought I was a painter, but I did have that experience.

Little Thunder: After you finished and you got your BFA, then what happened?

Lomahaftewa: I applied for the master's program. I was accepted and stayed on for the master's program and finished there.

Little Thunder: Now, is that when you began to explore printmaking a little more?

Lomahaftewa: No, that wasn't until I came back to [Santa Fe]. After I got my master's degree, then I started teaching right away. My first job was at California State College up in Sonoma, at Rohnert Park. I taught two years there in the Native American Studies program, and then after that--. It was a commute. It was quite a ways. Took an hour and a half, I think, to get there. Then after that, I taught two years at Berkeley, UC Berkeley, the Native American Studies program.

Little Thunder: You're still painting on the side while you're doing this?

Lomahaftewa: Yeah.

Little Thunder: In oils?

Lomahaftewa: No, I switched to acrylics because when I started having kids, it's harder. Paint dries faster with acrylics, so I switched to acrylics and a smaller scale. To have it on a tabletop, it was easier to paint acrylics than on an easel with oils.

Little Thunder: Now, were you raising your family, also, when you got your master's degree, or was it after?

Lomahaftewa: Yeah.

Little Thunder: Okay, so you changed to acrylics. Have you changed your style or approach at all? Are you still painting sort of abstract?

Lomahaftewa: I call it abstract, but they're--.

Little Thunder: Stylistically?

Lomahaftewa: --stylistic, yeah. The whole time, I'm exhibiting, showing my work, 27:00selling the work, and teaching, as well, and have been in different group shows.

Little Thunder: Not really consciously using any Hopi imagery yet?

Lomahaftewa: Thinking Hopi. That's what I was doing in my abstract form. I think the only thing that was really noticeable would be corn. I'd paint corn and an abstract background, a few designs from the different Kachinas I'd paint in my abstract way.

Little Thunder: Teaching in the Native studies field, are you focusing on Native art, or are you teaching Native studies in general?

Lomahaftewa: At Cal State Sonoma, it was Native studies. I was teaching about Southwest art and what I knew. Then at Berkeley it was actually a studio class. It was a painting class, and I had Native students that attended. Jean LaMarr was one of those. She was really good.

Little Thunder: Cool. Sometimes when you're teaching, you actually learn some things, or you have this opportunity to--. Did it impact your art in any way?

Lomahaftewa: It has throughout the years, but I can't say anything in particular. Through all the years of teaching and being around all the Native students, and where they come from, you get influenced by things that they say, 29:00or a symbol that they use, maybe. Sometimes some of it is a universal symbol, so in that way, it's impacted me.

Little Thunder: What was an early award that you got that was important to you, or honor?

Lomahaftewa: I think one that comes to mind is when I moved back to Santa Fe and was teaching here at the Institute. I started showing at the Indian Market. One year, I got the Helen Hardin award. I was really pleased with that because she's one of my idols, as well.

Little Thunder: Yes, that was a really prestigious award. She was such a good 30:00painter. It must have been really an amazing experience to come back where you went to school.

Lomahaftewa: Yeah, when I was in San Francisco at Berkeley, that's when they started coming out to recruit me to come back to Santa Fe to teach, and I eventually came back.

Little Thunder: Who came out?

Lomahaftewa: Hank Gobin and Manuelita Lovato, they came out and visited me in San Francisco, said they wanted me to come back to teach. It took about a year to think about it, and I finally did move back.

Little Thunder: By then, how many--do you have two daughters?

Lomahaftewa: I have a daughter and a son.

Little Thunder: A daughter and a son, so you had both your kids that had to be moved with you. (Laughs)

Lomahaftewa: Yes, all had to move back.

Little Thunder: Leave California.

Lomahaftewa: One of the reasons for that, one of the decisions to move back, also, was I wanted my kids to learn about their culture from here, the Southwest. New Mexico is closer to Hopi than San Francisco is. Santa Fe is closer to Arizona than San Francisco was. I wanted them to know their Hopi culture, and it was important to me that they learn that.

Little Thunder: When did you really start getting serious about your printmaking, then?

Lomahaftewa: Okay, teaching takes a lot out of you. It takes your creativity, I 32:00think. For a while there, I slowed down in my painting because I didn't have much time. You have to prepare for classes, raising your family and everything. It started getting harder for me, so I slowed down. Some of my friends were getting worried that, "Oh, no, she's going to stop doing her artwork." (Laughs) My friend Craig Locklear was teaching printmaking at the time, and he said, "Why don't you come in and try monotypes? I'll show you how to do that because it's like instant painting." I said, "Okay." This is, like, the late ʼ80s. I said, "Okay." I can't remember if it was during a class time or after, but he showed me how to do monotypes. I just took off from there. I just really enjoy doing 33:00mono. It is like a quick--.

Little Thunder: Can you explain for the readers?

Lomahaftewa: Yes, so monotype is, like, to me, almost instant painting. You can see the result when you roll your paper through the press. When the ink gets--. You paint on a Plexiglas plate with oil-base inks we were using at the time. I still use oil-based inks. Then you soak your paper and blot it out, and then put it on the press, lay the paper down, and then run it through a press. The impression gets onto the paper, and it's like an instant piece of artwork.

Little Thunder: And it's original.

Lomahaftewa: It's original. You can run it again and take off what's ever left on the plate. That's called a ghost print, but it's not the same as a first 34:00pull. Then you can manipulate and add on, rework the plate, print over, but it's always one image that you print at a time. That's why it's called a monoprint. It's just one print at a time.

Little Thunder: That was a way that you could keep working, even though, like you said, you don't have a lot of energy, but you were able to--.

Lomahaftewa: To at least do printmaking, yeah, to do monoprints. That was fun, and I enjoyed it. I could do more monoprints than I could finish an acrylic painting.

Little Thunder: You've done a lot of series. That's one thing that you've been known for, different print series. What do you like about working in series?

Lomahaftewa: In terms of people wanting to have a part of that series, I think, is why I did the series. Then, like I said, once I print an image and I like it, then I want to do it again. Then it becomes a series. Even though there's different variations of it, it becomes a series.

Little Thunder: There's more to explore. There's more--.

Lomahaftewa: Yeah, I just like doing it in series.

Little Thunder: What do you think has been one of the more important series that you--or maybe one that you enjoyed more than some of the others?

Lomahaftewa: I can't really say. (Laughter) I think one important one was the series I did of--. I called it The Journey series, but it's about the migration path of the Hopi people, and the colors of the four directions. That was an important series for me to do.

Little Thunder: When did you do that one?

Lomahaftewa: I can't remember--late 1990s.

Little Thunder: You've mentioned, talking with other people, that your associations with shapes and colors sometimes come from ceremonies or 37:00landscapes. Another inspiration has sometimes been ancient kiva paintings and petroglyphs. How do you explain the power of these images that really can reach across cultures and transcend time and space?

Lomahaftewa: To me, they're really powerful. When I look at petroglyphs, it's like something that was done a long time ago, but it looks, still today, very abstract. The pictures of the kiva mural from the kiva mural ruins, you know they're telling a story. It talks about a ceremony, which I don't know because each kiva has a different way that they do things. Those societies, as women 38:00we're not privy to, but the images are strong. I pick out images that I like and use those images. I started looking at books on Hopi, and when I saw the images from one of the ruins, from the village that was destroyed during the Pueblo Revolt, to me, I thought that was important to talk about that part of history and the beauty of the painting that was left on the kiva that a lot of Hopis still use today in their artwork.

Little Thunder: Although you've had this peripatetic upbringing where you've lived in these many different parts of the country, a lot of your inspiration seems to depend on that really physical, spiritual sense of place.

Lomahaftewa: Yes because Hopis are really, not to say that other cultures aren't, really strong in their continual ceremonies that take place, yearly ceremonies that take place. I live close enough to go out to Hopi for those major ceremonies. To go out there to watch the ceremonies and help at the house, 40:00it grounds me when I go out to see those ceremonies.

Little Thunder: Have you ever done any collaborations with artists?

Lomahaftewa: Yeah, I collaborated with Harry Fonseca. We did some paintings together.

Little Thunder: Was it a series?

Lomahaftewa: We did several paintings of some of the kiva murals. I guess this is where I'm going to have to insert the name of the [Pottery Mound in New Mexico]. It's one of the ruins from here in New Mexico, and I can't think of the name of the site right now.

Little Thunder: Yeah, we can add it in. (Laughter)

Lomahaftewa: Have to add it in later. We did some images from that area, and to 41:00me, it looked close enough to Hopi that I liked doing that collaboration. We just had fun, painting the images. Who else have I collaborated--. I did one of the collaboration pieces that--. It's here in the IAIA Museum collection. It's a collaboration piece that I did with Delia Velasco, who was one of my students. We did seven large canvases that makes one tall mural that are here in the collection. That was a really good collaboration that we did. I did paint with 42:00my brother. Did some collaboration pieces with my brother, not all the time, but we experimented doing some paintings together.

Little Thunder: He liked to do collaborations.

Lomahaftewa: Yeah. That's all I can think of right now.

Little Thunder: The collaboration with your student, how did you divide tasks?

Lomahaftewa: We had to come up with a schematic scheme first, a cartoon. I wanted to do something that--. Again, we used imagery from the kiva murals, and Delia is Tohono O'odham and Navajo. She saw similarities in the figures and the 43:00plants from where she's from in southern Arizona. We were able to work together. It just worked, and then she added in the plant life from the Sonoran Desert area. It all worked really well, the colors and movement in the painting.

Little Thunder: Neat. How did you approach the business side? Like, how did you know how to price your work? What were some of the challenges?

Lomahaftewa: That one, it's always still hard for me to do that because I didn't take any business classes. It was like learning everything the hard way, dealing with people and galleries. I looked at what other people were doing and selling their work for. Just try to be reasonable in my prices and not be overpriced, or 44:00you know what I mean. The hard part is keeping up with everything. (Laughter)

Little Thunder: Right, and you've continued to have a booth at Santa Fe Indian Market--

Lomahaftewa: Yes.

Little Thunder: --for all these years?

Lomahaftewa: Yeah, for at least, I would have to say, thirty-five years.

Little Thunder: Oh, wow, so you've seen a lot of changes in the market.

Lomahaftewa: Yeah, the changes with Santa Fe Indian Market and the changes with IAIA, but you grow with it and learn from those changes how it all works together.

Little Thunder: Right, the campus is so beautiful, and it looks like they're 45:00getting ready for some new construction. I know that there's been some--. It hasn't been easy, financially, for the school these last few years.

Lomahaftewa: It's always continually fundraising for the campus and scholarships for the students. It's always a struggle to keep up with the finances.

Little Thunder: Do you feel like--I know from going to shows with my husband, after 9/11, basically, things got really hard for a number of years.

Lomahaftewa: It did.

Little Thunder: Do you feel like Native art, the markets are kind of coming back?

Lomahaftewa: I feel like it is. It's real slow for. I think for painters, it is. I have to speak for myself, but for other artists like the jewelers and the potters, they seem to be able to....

Little Thunder: That 3Ds, they've been doing pretty well.

Lomahaftewa: It's been harder for painters, I think.

Little Thunder: Your retirement is so new. Like you said, you're looking forward to doing more artwork, but after you get into a routine, etcetera, is there a certain project that you are thinking about, mulling over?

Lomahaftewa: I wanted to get back to talking about subject matter in my work. Doing the Hopi-Southwest subject matter, the whole time in the back of my mind, I always thought of, "How do I incorporate my mother's culture into the work?" It wasn't until my daughter, who is the collections manager here at the school, 47:00curated a show. It was an exhibit about Choctaw artists, so I was included. I didn't have anything Choctaw or specifically that spoke to Choctaw. On my first sabbatical break, which was a semester that was in 2005, I think it was, I was going to do some research on Choctaws and figure out how I was going to produce or paint, do some paintings about Choctaw. During that time, my brother passed away. I wasn't able to finish doing that research.

All I had to do was be able to look through books and try to find pictures that I could use to create some work. That's what I went by. On my second sabbatical, (this was six or seven years later) I wanted to go on a Mound research trip. That was my plan for the second time on sabbatical. I asked America Meredith if she wanted to go on a Mound research trip with me, and she said, "Sure." The Cherokee people are from the Mound culture. That's what we did on my second sabbatical, (what year was that) 2010, I think, 2010 or 2011. We started out 49:00with Spiro Mound in Oklahoma, went all the way to Cherokee, North Carolina, which is her homeland. We call them our Mother Mound sites. From Spiro, we went to all those southern states across the United States.

Little Thunder: Wow, that's quite a--.

Lomahaftewa: Of course, I had to go to Mississippi Choctaw to see the Mother Mound site there, and then on over to North Carolina. That was an incredible, incredible trip. Took a lot of pictures. I always feel like I have to go to a place that I'm talking about--for it, I guess, to speak to me. That's the only 50:00way I can think of so I can create something. That was important to me, to go on that Mound research trip. I've been doing, since then, more of Southeastern designs and landscapes in my work. I'm trying to figure out a way to make the two work together, the Hopi and the Southeast. I think it is working together because, like I said before, there are some universal symbols that we use, like for the Four Directions or maybe water symbols. I just don't want to make it look like one way or the other. I'm trying to figure out how to make that work.

Little Thunder: That's going to be really exciting. Primarily in terms of printmaking or painting, or both?

Lomahaftewa: Both, yeah.

Little Thunder: It's starting to surface in both--.

Lomahaftewa: When I did the work for the Choctaw show, the--.

Little Thunder: Was that here?

Lomahaftewa: It was here, yeah. The show was called Voices from the Mound. Again, like I said, I could only go by what I could find in books. I did designs of the bandolier sash that the men wear, and this spiral symbol, and the diamonds that the Choctaws used in the beadwork and basketry. Then I used 52:00photographs. I transferred photographs into the prints, and then shapes of the different mounds into the work, as well.

Little Thunder: Wow, that sounds really neat. You've been doing a lot of judging, I think, or have over the years. Some artists like judging art competitions, and some don't care for it. (Laughter) What are the challenges, and what are the rewards of that? (Laughs)

Lomahaftewa: To me, the challenge is, because I've been in the field for all this time, that I know who the artist is by even looking at the work. That's the hard part. I don't want to let, I guess, emotions get in the way, but you can't help it. (Laughter)

Little Thunder: Some of whom have been your students, probably.

Lomahaftewa: Yeah, (Laughter) so that's the hard part. That's a challenge.

Little Thunder: What are the good things about it?

Lomahaftewa: I really enjoy looking at, seeing what people are doing, coming up with their new ideas, and seeing what's Best of Show. It doesn't necessarily have to be when I look at a piece of artwork if it's for sale or anything. It's just the best of what anyone could do. That's a part I like while looking at the work.

Little Thunder: I wanted to talk a little bit more about your process. I think you've talked nicely about the monotypes and the changes in painting. You do--is 54:00it called China collage, or chine collage, or something?

Lomahaftewa: Chine collé?

Little Thunder: Yeah, Chine collé, thank you. Can you explain what that is, and are you still doing some of that or not?

Lomahaftewa: Yes, I'm still doing that, yeah. Chine collé, it's a French term in printmaking that translates to Chinese pasting. "Chine" is Chinese, and "collé" is to paste. Chine collés, you can do papers, photographs. Anything that's flat, pretty much, you can Chine collé onto a piece of paper and then run it through the press.

Little Thunder: You're getting those textures, as well as the colors.

Lomahaftewa: Textures, layers, and it can be done all at once. That's what I like about Chine collé.

Little Thunder: Right, sounds like that's going to work nicely for that 55:00confluence of tribal heritages, too. What portion of your work now--and I realize that you haven't been able to dig into it full-time again yet. What portion do you think is printing, and what portion is painting?

Lomahaftewa: There's been a couple of pieces that I've done where I paint the canvas first, and then I collage the prints on top of that. Getting that background painting done, whether it's one color or color field, one piece in particular that I'm thinking of that I did where I painted the background. Then I collaged the prints onto that. Then I painted on top of that to incorporate it all together, blend it all together.

Little Thunder: That sounds really--

Lomahaftewa: Integrated, yeah.

Little Thunder: --kind of a multi-media. Are you interested in any digital drawing programs or not?

Lomahaftewa: Not right now. When I have more time. (Laughter)

Little Thunder: What's your process for coming up with titles?

Lomahaftewa: That's always hard for me. A lot of times when I'm working, I'll think of an idea, a name, or what I'm trying to say in my work at the time, but then when it comes at the end to title it, I'll either use that word or come up 57:00with a whole different thought of what I was trying to do. I always have a hard time with titles.

Little Thunder: Yeah, a lot of artists do. What's your creative process from the time you get an idea?

Lomahaftewa: I have to clear off the table so I can work. (Laughter) I used to have to wash my dishes. (Laughs) One time, I was thinking, "Why do I have to wash the dishes?" I thought about it. I go, "I have to clean the sink out so I can rinse my paints in there." (Laughter)

Little Thunder: You hadn't made that conscious association?

Lomahaftewa: I hadn't before, (Laughter) so that all has to be clean. My table has to be cleared off.

Little Thunder: Then will you do any preliminary sketching or not?

Lomahaftewa: I do a lot of, yeah, sketches and write down ideas, writing, as well as drawing them out.

Little Thunder: Keeping a little notebook.

Lomahaftewa: Yeah, keeping a notebook, so I have a lot of little sketchbooks that I work with.

Little Thunder: What's your creative routine? Do you like to work during the day or at night?

Lomahaftewa: In the morning, that's my best time. The light source here is the best in the morning, really crisp, clean, clear, bright. That's my best time is in the morning.

Little Thunder: Looking back at your career so far, what do you think has been a pivotal moment when you could have taken one fork in the road and you went this other way?

Lomahaftewa: I've been doing art my whole life, or I think I have. (Laughs) It 59:00always just seems like that's been my whole life, doing art. What would I have done if I didn't have art in my life? I have no idea because it's always been a part of me. Which way would I go? What other thing could I do? Then there are times when I think, "What if I just didn't do any art at all anymore? What would that be like?" I can't imagine because it's always been a part of me.

Little Thunder: What do you think has been one of the high points in your career so far?

Lomahaftewa: I think it's yet to come. (Laughs)

Little Thunder: I think it is, too. I'm really looking forward to some of the work that you've been describing. What was one of the low points of your career?

Lomahaftewa: I think when I started to slow down and not be able to do my artwork, that's been a low point for me. I'm glad that my friends were able to encourage me to at least start with the printmaking and to keep going.

Little Thunder: Right, yeah. Is there anything else you'd like to add before we look at--. We're going to look at some examples of your work, and then we're going to look at a gallery presentation of some of your black and white drawings.

Lomahaftewa: I can't think of anything right now, but I think after I read the interview, I might be able to add something in or say, "I meant to say this."

Little Thunder: (Laughs) That'll be fine. We'll just pause it a moment so you can grab those pieces. We'll show those, the ones that you brought. -- Okay, so, 61:00Linda, you want to tell us about this piece?

Lomahaftewa: Okay, this piece is titled Four Rivers, No. 2, and it's a series. I'm talking about--it's a migration story of the Hopi people. My grandfather said that the Hopi people, during the migration journey of where we were going to end up at, we had to cross four rivers. The Hopi people had to cross four rivers. This is my interpretation of crossing them, the abstract version of four rivers.

Little Thunder: Right, yeah. I love the colors and the movement, and it's a monoprint.

Lomahaftewa: It's a monoprint.

Little Thunder: All right, how about this piece?

Lomahaftewa: Okay, this piece is titled Ancestral Gulf Birds. It was my take on 62:00the Gulf oil spill and how they kept showing on the news these birds, drenched in oil. This is my interpretation of my homage to the gulf birds, with what was going on at the time. Because it happened in the Southeastern part of the United States, I incorporated my Southeastern design in there that tells where this happened.

Little Thunder: Right, and it looks like the bird has something that he's caught, also.

Lomahaftewa: He's carrying something, yeah.

Little Thunder: That's a pretty powerful piece. How about this?

Lomahaftewa: This is, I call it the Plumed Serpent. It comes from the Southeast. 63:00It's taken from a Southeast pottery design, but the Hopi also have a plumed serpent. We believe that a plumed serpent lives in the water and protects the water. The story is that whenever the plumed serpent surfaces, then that's a sign for the end of the world. That's what that is.

Little Thunder: It looks like you've done the plumed serpent with paint, pen and ink.

Lomahaftewa: This is all, again, monotype.

Little Thunder: It's all monotype.

Lomahaftewa: The plumed serpent is actually, it's a stencil, an inked stencil, and printed it on top.

Little Thunder: I thought maybe it was a monotype. That's beautiful. I love the shape and the color of it. All right, thank you for your time, Linda, and we'll 64:00move on to the gallery, quickly. -- All right, we're here in the special gallery room, and you want to tell us about the source of these images?

Lomahaftewa: Okay, these are all--this exhibition is about work that I was doing while I was in San Francisco as a student. I would be constantly drawing in my sketchbook. These are all a result of ideas that I would draw out with colored pens, and pencil, and ink, just ideas. That's what this whole exhibition is about.

Little Thunder: Right, and they're wonderful because they just stand on their own, too. It's a wonderful range of whimsy.

Lomahaftewa: I did a lot of fine-line work in some of these smaller ones. I like working with those different kinds of pens that you can do detail with fine lines.

Little Thunder: How long has this show been up, Linda?

Lomahaftewa: It's been up since May, the end of the school year, during graduation time. I was honored with an honorary doctorate degree at graduation, so this exhibit was put up during that time. See where I've gone through in my path, in my journey.

Little Thunder: Now we're looking at some other images.

Lomahaftewa: These are all basically pen and ink drawings, black and white. The only type of color that would have been added is, I think, silver ink to that area there. In this particular case, these two images, I did make prints out of 66:00them, so we did silkscreen prints out of these two images.

Little Thunder: How neat.

Lomahaftewa: That's what I forgot to mention. In high school, I did take fabric printmaking, silkscreen, so that was like an introduction.

Little Thunder: With Lloyd Kiva New, was he teaching that?

Lomahaftewa: Yes, he was my teacher.

Little Thunder: Wonderful. These are all wonderful, and you mentioned that you'd been awarded an honorary--.

Lomahaftewa: Doctorate degree, yes, in humanities. That's an honor to me. (Laughs)

Little Thunder: That's a very special honor. Thank you so much for your time today.

Lomahaftewa: Okay, thank you.

------- End of interview -------