The Return of the Force, Part 5: Endings Are Beginnings
This post is the fifth in a series that showcases Star Wars art by Native artists that were included in a recent exhibition entitled The Return of the Force at the Tempe Center for the Arts in Tempe, Arizona. These stories were provided by artist and curator Duane Koyawena (Hopi/Tewa), and Samantha Honanie (Hopi/Diné), volunteer consultant and librarian at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff.
Ryan Singer, Diné
Rich: We’ve got a few more pieces here, so let’s talk about these other Ryan Singer pieces. Ryan’s work also appears in Part 2.
Sam: Yeah, that piece is in the collection of Tony Thibodeau. It was featured in the first Return of the Force exhibition in Durango, Colorado, and at the museum in Flagstaff. We typically don’t add pieces after an exhibit is already upland running, but the exhibit coincided with the launch of The Mandalorian, and after people saw the character of Grogu, who was unnamed at that point, they really fell in love with the character so this piece was added to the previous exhibition.
Keith W. Smith, Jr., Diné
Keith W. Smith, Jr., Diné
Acrylic on canvas
Duane: This piece here is by Keith Smith, Navajo / Diné, one of my favorite painters and a huge Star Wars fan. If you could see all his Star Wars paintings; I mean this guy is just amazing.I love the Navajo women in their shawls and jewelry – so cool!
Mavasta Honyouti, Hopi
Rich: And then we’ve got these wood carvings by Mavasta Honyouti.
Duane: A master carver, Mavasta is a Hopi artist who is also a big Star Wars fan, and we’re very fortunate to be able to include his work in the exhibit. We are showing two pieces that he carved in cottonwood root. On the left is a small wooden plaque featuring a view of the two suns on Tatooine, and on the right, we have a bow guard with a carving of a Mandalorian, similar to the pieces we saw previously from Pat Pruitt. These pieces are also from the Charles King collection.
Jonah Hill, Hopi-Quechan
Jonah Hill, Hopi-Quechan
Tufa cast sterling silver
Grogu’ hoya Ring
Jonah Hill, Hopi-Quechan
Tufa cast sterling silver
Grogu’ hoya Pin
Jonah Hill, Hopi-Quechan
Tufa cast sterling silver
Rich: Who created this silver work?
Sam: Jonah Hill is a Hopi-Quechan silversmith who typically utilizes the tufa cast style, which creates the texture we see on these pieces here. He features The Child again, wrapped in a blanket of stars, as well as a Mandalorian helmet highlighted with native symbols.You can also see how he would traditionally set a piece of jewelry like a bolo tie, with the braided leather and the end pieces. If you look closely at the lightsabers on the end pieces, you can see Jonah’s ability to capture really fine details in his work.
Dwayne Manuel, On’k Akimel O’odham (Salt River People)
Rich: It looks like the next three pieces are part of a series by Dwayne Manuel.
Duane: Dwayne’s work provides insight into his perspective and some elements from his O’odham culture, but what’s really fascinating are the subjects that he’s chosen to feature. Generally, a lot of artists place an emphasis on characters like the Jedi and Grogu, but Dwayne really took it to the next level by featuring Darth Maul and the evil characters that are part of the dark side.
As a Phoenix-based educator and advocate for his people, Dwayne tries to create awareness of the continued struggle his people experience as they have to fight for resources, their traditional homelands, and the kinds of things that go along with that. He highlights that in a lot of his art but you can also see the use of traditional native symbolism, including feathers and the devil’s claw plant. The way he blends art and advocacy is very interesting. He’s into metal music too, so you can see that in his work as well.
Darby Raymond-Overstreet, Diné
Darby Raymond-Overstreet, Diné
Digital artwork
According to the description at the exhibition, Darby describes her interest in Star Wars. “As a child, the Star Wars films captivated my imagination and inspired me to draw. There were aliens and monsters, robots and spaceships, heroes and villains and powers beyond this world. There was also something familiar in the landscapes and places.
Today, I’m interested in parallels between the Star Wars storyline and the American Indian Experience. From a Native perspective, it’s easy to see the evil empire mirroring the colonizing forces of North America. Characters like Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader and Kylo Ren interest me because of their personal battles with anger, hate and suffering [that] become the source of evil perpetuated through the galaxy. Through overcoming these inner demons, balance and order can be restored.”
This concludes our series on The Return of the Force exhibition, but as the title of Part 5 suggests, endings are often just beginnings….
Catch up with Return of the Force Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4
