Milland Lomakema (Dawakema) was born in Shungopovi in 1941.  He was educated at Hopi Reservation schools, the Navajo Mission in Holbrook, Arizona and the Hardin Academy in Search, Arkansas.  He also studied at Magic Valley Christian College in Delco, Idaho.  Lomakema was a self-taught artist with no formal training in the arts.

In 1958 Lomakema joined a visual education tour which traveled throughout the east coast of the United States and Canada.  He returned to the mesas in 1960 and was initiated into the men’s One Horn Society.  Milland Lomakema was a member of the Corn-Water Clan, which participates in all Hopi religious activities.During the mid-1960s, Lomakema worked with a detective agency in Phoenix.  In 1968 he joined the Hopi police force.  While employed as a law-enforcement agent, Lomakema devoted much of his time and energy to painting, participating in many local art exhibitions and entering many competitions.  In 1968 his painting Sea Serpent and Sun was first place in the Heard Museum’s National Indian Art Show.  In 1969 he was awarded second and third prizes in the Indian Arts Competition at the Arizona State Fair.  In 1970 Lomakema won awards at the Scottsdale National Indian Art Exhibition, the Gallop Inter-Tribal Ceremonial competition and the Navajo Tribal Fair.

Today Milland Lomakema’s work is in many museums and private collections.  In 1973, he joined the Artist Hopid. He worked and toured with the group.  In addition to exhibiting his paintings, he frequently lectured on the group’s objectives.

Delbridge Honanie (Coochsiwukioma) was born in January 1946 in Winslow, Arizona.  He received his early education on the Hopi Reservation and in 1968 graduated from the Phoenix Indian School, a Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school.  While in Phoenix, Honanie studied painting under Winton Coles and upon graduation entered the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe.  At the Institute Delbridge studied with Otellie Loloma, a well-known Hopi artist and teacher.  In 1970, after receiving his diploma from the Institute of American Indian, Honanie returned to Phoenix, where he worked as an arts and crafts instructor at the Phoenix Indian School.

Delbridge Honanie exhibited his work in museums and galleries throughout the United States and entered and won many Indian art competitions.  In 1968, while studying in Phoenix, he won a student award at the Scottsdale National Indian Art Show.  In 1969 he won the “Discover America” poster contest and his winning entry, Two Shalakos, was reproduced as a poster.  In 1970 Honanie won several awards at the Heard Museum National Art Show, and in 1975 he won the Swazo Memorial Award at the Heard Museum.

In 1972 Honanie returned to the Hopi villages to be initiated into the Men’s Society.  At this time, he received his manhood name, Coochsiwukioma, which means “falling snow.”  Honanie was a member of the Bear Clan, the spiritual leaders of the Hopi people.

In 1973 Honanie joined the Artist Hopid.  In addition to his work on the Hopi Ceremonial Calendar mural, he painted a mural in the Academic Building on the Institute of American Indian Art campus and a mural in a building on the Arizona State University campus.”  (Hopi Painting The World of the Hopis by Patricia Broder (1978))

Neil Randall David Sr. is the only Tewa in the Artist Hopid. His paternal ancestors, seeking refuge from the Spanish reprisal following the great Pueblo Revolt of 1680, settled among the Hopis. He lives in the Tewa-speaking community of Hano on First Mesa and is a member of the influential Kachina Clan. Neil was born in Hano in 1941 of Hopi and Tewa parents.

David attended Polacca Day School and Hopi High School, where he studied art with Fred Kabotie.  In 1959 he transferred to the Phoenix Indian School.  Today he is recognized as a kachina carver as well as a painter.  Following graduation from the Phoenix Indian School, David entered the armed forces and served in Germany.  Since 1968 he has devoted his full energy to painting.  In 1973 he became one of the founders of the Artist Hopid.”  (Hopi Painting The World of the Hopis by Patricia Broder (1978))

Mr. David is the only artist creating the Hopi Ceremonial Calendar painting still alive at the time this appraisal was written.  Conversations by phone with Mr. David on two occasions in June 2023 were most informative as he revealed the group’s intent to create pictorial signatures instead of written ones.  He also explained the specifics of his having executed the panel furthest to the viewer’s left.  The duration of time for the mural’s execution was shared, as was the intent to travel the mural, to serve as a pictorial education tool. 

Michael Kabotie (Lomawywesa) was one of the four founding members of the Artist Hopid and was spokesman for the group.  Born in Shungopovi in 1942, Michael was the son of Alice Kabotie and Fred Kabotie. (Fred Kabotie was the first Hopi to win individual recognition as an artist. In 1949 he founded the Hopi Cooperative Silvercraft Guild.) Michael Kabotie was educated at the Reservation Day School.  He studied art with his father.  In 1959, Michael entered Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas, graduating in 1961.  Following graduation, he entered the College of Engineering at the University of Arizona in Tucson, but withdrew from the University to devote his full attention to painting.

In 1966 Michael Kabotie had a one-man show at the Heard Museum and in August of that year, one of his paintings was featured on the cover of Arizona Highways.  During 1968 and 1969 he won the Merit Awards, and first and second place awards at the Gallop Inter-Tribal Competition.  In both 1969 and 1970 Kabotie won honorable mention at the Indian Art competition at the Philbrook Institute in Tulsa.  In 1971 he won a first-place award in the Indian art competitions at both the Museum of Northern Arizona at Flagstaff and at the Heard Museum.

Kabotie was an active participant in all phases of Hopi life. He was a member of the Snow-Water Clan which co-sponsors the Flute Ceremony held in Shongopovi on odd-numbered years.  (The Snake Ceremony is held on even-numbered years.)  In 1967 Michael was initiated into the Wuwuchim, the Hopi Men’s Society, and his Godfather gave him his adult name, Lomawywesa which means “walking in harmony”.

In January 1970, Kabotie was elected president of the Hopi Arts and Crafts Cooperative Guild, and for three years devoted the great part of his time and energy to this organization.  In 1973 he became a founder of the Artist Hopid.  He directed the activities of the group and organized their exhibition tours.  Michaellectured at museums and universities throughout the United States including San Diego State University, Harvard University, Rochester Museum of Science and Northern Arizona University.”  (Hopi Painting The World of the Hopis by Patricia Broder (1978))

Terrance Talaswaima (Honvantewa) was born in 1939 in Shipolovi.  He attended primary school at the Toreva Day School, junior high at Oraibi Day School and Catalina High School in Tucson.  Following graduation from high school, Talaswaima studied art education at the University of Arizona for three years, in a program that was part of the Southwest Indian Project.

During the 1960s Talaswaima worked in Tucson in the anthropology department of the University of Arizona, was employed a s a draftsman and illustrator for the American Universities for Research in Astronomy and worked for a blueprint company.

From 1969 to 1973 Talaswaima participated in the Hopi Action Program in Oraibi, a program devoted to incorporating Hopi culture into school curriculum.  He was art consultant and cultural-materials developer to this program, which came under the auspices of the Hopi Tribal Council.  The program was devoted to research into Hopi folklore, songs (social) and stories.  These stories were recorded into Hopi then translated and written in English.  As a result of this program, three books, Birds at Hano Village, Frog and Bird Work in the Cornfield, and Hopi Lullaby were published and used as supplementary reading in school classes.  Talaswaima illustrated Birds at Hano Village.

Throughout his career, Talaswaima was able to combine his interests in both education and art in his work.  In 1973 he received a grant to work as a curatorial intern at the Museum of Northern Arizona.  In 1975, upon completion of the program, he was appointed curator of the Hopi Cultural Center Museum.

Terrance Talaswaima was an active participant in Hopi community life.  He was a councilman on the Hopi Tribal Council, a member of the Second Mesa Day School Advisory Board and Chair of the Save the Children Foundation in Shipolovi Village.

Talaswaima was a member of the Pumpkin Clan, which is part of the Sand and Snake society.  He was a member of the Wuwuchim Men’s Society and the Gray Flute Society.  The Pumpkin Clan was one of the last clans to arrive at the mesas; however, in the course of time they have won a reputation as historians.  Talaswaima was keeper of the drum in Shipolovi.  His name, Honvantewa, means “bear making tracks”.