We Are About Beauty: Hopi Artists, Hopi Art exhibition at Heard Museum North Scottsdale presented by American Express, with additional support provided by Scottsdale Cultural Council. We Are About Beauty: Hopi Artists, Hopi Art contains more than 25 paintings and drawings by Hopi artists. Some of these works have never before been displayed. Through the pieces, all drawn from the museum’s collection, Hopi artists have saliently illustrated the late Hopi master artist Charles Loloma’s statement, “We are about beauty.”

Hopi artists have painted throughout the 20th century and into the present in two distinct styles: artists who are rendering realistic depictions of katsinam and ceremonies and more impressionistic works including iconography from Hopi culture. Artists who created some of the early realistic depictions in We Are About Beauty were influenced by the Santa Fe Indian School and requests by patrons for representational art. The use of abstract symbols dates back farther, deriving from early expressions in petroglyphs and kiva mural paintings and continuing into the present.

Work by artists Neil David, Fred Kabotie, Michael Kabotie, Dan Namingha, Otis Polelonema and Ramona Sakiestewa span the 20th century. This exciting exhibition is on display through March 29, 2009.