Dan Namingha is from the Hopi-Tewa village at First Mesa. He is a member of the famous Nampeyo family. His mother is Dextra Nampeyo and his grandmother was Rachel Namingha Nampeyo. He was born in 1950 and attended High School at Keams Canyon, Arizona, the University of Kansas and then the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe where he came under the influence of Otellie Loloma who encouraged him to experiment with his art. He began his art career painting in realistic style and then, around 1972, began to paint in a more abstract manner. Teachers at IAIA, such as Otellie Loloma, Allan Houser, and Fritz Scholder, encouraged the students to expand their horizons and paint creatively, which many did.
Would you like to know more?
