Art in Hopiland.

High on the arid mesas of Arizona live the Hopi. At the base of the First Mesa is the new Hopi Junior-Senior High School for mostly Hopi and Tewa students and about 100 Navajo students. Upon entering the school, I saw a group of students pointing at a large wall mural of modernized kachina figures and symbols. They were working from an elaborate colored sketch, inspired by Hopi artist Neil David. As they painted, the students were listening to Rap music on a boom box. The Hopi world is changing with outside influences. I was there to observe and document some changing patterns in Hopi art education.

A Cultural Link

Comparing world art with Hopi art is important to Anglo art teacher Michael O'Neill. His eighth grade art curriculum begins with a study of cave painting and Egyptian art. On the day of my visit, the class was working on an Egyptian art unit.

To motivate students with new ideas, O'Neill gave a short slide presentation on Egyptian art. Students showed high interest and responded humorously. Male students did most of the talking and females were reserved.

"Remember that these wall paintings are similar to those in your Hopi kivas," O'Neill reminded his students. (A kiva is an underground place to pray, prepare, and perform Kachina ceremonies.) He then invited them to plan their own wall painting by choosing symbols from their own lives. He wrote the directions on the board: 1) Look at slides from ancient Egypt; 2) Complete a decorative border; and 3) Fill in your wall painting with favorite objects, symbols, and your name in code. He then passed out templates, french curves, rulers, and protractors.

New Ways with Hopi Traditions

I watched the students plan and draw their designs. The males seemed more comfortable with mural painting, perhaps because traditionally men do all the drawing and painting in the kivas. Most students were deliberate in their search for ideas.

O'Neill found that his students were more concerned with a perfect and exact drawing; he assured them that they need only record an impression. Many of the students relied on the mechanical crutches, fussing over rulers and protractors. I watched one young man painstakingly draw a border pattern, resembling a squarish spiral, which he copied from a book. A female student drew tiny triangles and filled them in with two concentric but tangential smaller circles.

Using Symbols

Out of the fifteen final acrylic paintings, seven were highly symmetrical and others were well balanced. Students incorporated a variety of Hopi and popular symbols. Six students used the Hopi sun sign; six used the peace sign, and four students used the yin-yang sign.

Other paintings were more elaborate. For example, One student drew his bear clan image with the claw in the center of the page. He drew the eagle profile to the left with kachina abstractions inside and the sun god and crow kachina profile on the right side, facing inside. He added the Hopi sun god behind. He used his signature as a border at the top, flanked on either side by "sun peeking through the cloud" abstractions. He painted all these details flatly and repeated the pan Indian colors of red, yellow, blue, and black. In the background, he also used an impressionistic brushstroke in blue to denote sky.

Only one student attempted a Self-profile image. Hopi artists rarely portray themselves in their artworks. This student painted a yellow form with the words "Snickers," the moon, and his name in a square with gold. In the background the black silhouette of adobe buildings and the kiva abstraction contrasted a royal blue sky with white clouds. The border featured a triangle with an enclosed circle.

A final example was a more expressionistic or playful example. It had an off-centered cartouche in the black form, kachina heads, front and side view of a car, a smiling sun, small yin-yang and peace signs, a coke bottle, a palm tree, tiny figures fighting, and an Indian shooting an arrow. Throughout the background were tiny heart and doe track patterns. The borders consisted of snakes and tracks in the middle and a mountain and cloud pattern, offset with diagonal claw prints. This final example had a spontaneous graffiti feel to it, which suggested that Hopi style is changing.

Respecting Religious Symbols

Using sacred symbols in school projects presents a problem for students. Hopi students are careful not to use important religious emblems in school artwork. Most of the symbols students developed were common ones found on a handout distributed by the local Hopi Agency. Students tend to draw the more popular symbols, such as the sun god and rain patterns. The Navajo often borrow or copy Hopi symbolism. Because these two groups live so close to each other, cultural borrowing is frequent and at times may cause friction.

Through exposure to world art forms, Hopi students are changing their style and incorporating other elements. Some students, who may be uncomfortable with drawing, tend to be mechanical learners at beginning stages, but their arrangements and images change with outside influences. An artist group called the Artists Hopoid uses cubist and surreal techniques to convey the sense of complexity and mystery of the Hopi world. Fred Kabotie, a Hopi artist, describes Hopi life as spiritual: "The Hopi artist is a visionary because the spirit world is ever present in Hopi life."

The Dual World of the Hopi

The Hopi comment about their changing world: "Yesterday our people didn't need an education to survive. They could plant corn and melons and raise a few sheep. Now we have to learn to live in two worlds," explained one parent. An advanced student remarked, "Our work is about memories of the Kachina gods and asking for rain. I am a member of the sand and snake clan...but I don't always live on the Rez (reservation)."

As in other places in the Americas, when the music changes to hard rock and rap, so do the images. Hopi youth are hungry for ideas and stimulation. They want to see the best that the modem and ancient worlds have to offer.

Mary Stokrocki is a professor of art at Arizona State University in Tempe. She wishes to thank the students and their art teacher Michael O'Neill at the Hopi Junior-Senior High School in Keams Canyon, Arizona.