MILLAND LOMAKEMA

– MILLAND LOMAKEMA (DAWAKEMA) –

Hopi, 1941-2021

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.