About the Artist

"Honored at the 1998 Santa Fe Indian Market for his Hopi and Zuni style pottery and non-traditional painting, Les Namingha learned pottery on the Hopi reservation in Arizona from his aunt, Dextra Nampeyo. He combines traditional motifs with modernist influences such as designs of Paul Klee and Vasily Kandinsky, and in his personal life, he combines the Mormon religion with his Native American heritage. Les was born into a family of renowned Indian artists, and his mother was Zuni and his father was part Tewa and part Hopi. For him, a life-changing event occurred when he was eleven and his mother decided he should be educated in Salt Lake City in a Mormon educational program, which placed Indian children with Mormon families to attend public schools. To enroll, Namingha had to convert to the Mormon faith and pledge to live by the church tenants of no drugs, tobacco, alcohol or other stimulants. At first he was torn between this and his native culture but grew to incorporate both of them in his life, forming close bonds with both reservation people and Mormon associates