(1950 -Present ) Dan Namingha is of Hopi-Tewa heritage. He studied at the prestigious Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, and currently lives in Taos, New Mexico. Dan Namingha carries a strong family artistic tradition into its fifth generation. His great-great grandmother, Nampayo, is credited with rekindling the art of Hopi Pottery, which his mother and sister continue. Namingha's uncles carved several hundred variations of Hopi Kachinas, wooden renderings of ceremonial dancers who are thought to be messengers of the spirit world. Dan Namingha, with deep understanding and authority, transforms the symbols of his own visionary culture into contemporary art. Drawing on the mysticism of his heritage, as well as his experience of modern America, he gives us Native American art, not only at its source, but also at its best!