Return of the Force Archives

August 20, 2025August 20, 2025

The Return of the Force Part 4: Canvases Take Many Forms!

The Return of the Force part 4 features canvases that take many forms! This is the fourth 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.

Jason Garcia & Okuu Pin, Santa Clara Pueblo

The Return of the Force Part 4 — Credit: Jason Garcia & Okuu Pin, Santa Clara Pueblo Maxi Big Da Force Traditionally hand-processed clay, mineral pigments, traditional outdoor firing Courtesy of King Galleries

Rich: Now this piece I find really interesting.

Duane: This is a unique style as well. Jason Garcia is a traditional potter. He comes from Santa Clara Pueblo. He’s a Tewa artist who loves Star Wars. His favorite character is Jar Jar Binks, so in this exhibit he featured a piece that shows a child holding a Jar Jar cup. I would say as an artist, like many of these artists, he is very successful and has definitely created a name for himself and his style. This piece belongs to Charles King of King Galleries in Scottsdale, AZ and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Mr. King is a big fan of Jason Garcia.

Installation by TCA Gallery + Guest Artist

Rich:: Wow, this next section wasn’t open during my previous visit. I think the curtain was drawn the last time we met, so this is my first time seeing it, and I love it!

Sam: Yes, they were working on this installation for quite some time when we were putting the exhibition together. It’s actually a collaboration between Tempe Center for the Arts and Randy Kemp’s son, who sourced a bunch of different materials, did some artwork on the different pieces, and put them together to kind of make it look like a workshop, or a junkyard or something like that. The sound elements as well as the different textures and 3D pieces really add a lot to the exhibition.

Kim Lohnes, Diné

Rich: Here we have another female artist featured and this piece is incredible.

Sam: Kim Lohnes is a Navajo/Diné artist. You can see that she took a piece of linen and was able to do this immense amount of bead work on this piece featuring BB-8 that is on loan from Tony Thibodeau, director of research and collections at the Museum of Northern Arizona. At one point when Tony was curating the first exhibit back in 2020, he was talking with Randall Wilson, one of the artists that was featured. Randall told Tony, “Hey, my cousin actually did this really cool piece.” So this ended up being added to the first exhibition as well as this one. You can see how Kim uses color and a more abstract look in this design.

At first, you don’t immediately recognize it as BB-8. You just see it as a beautiful piece of bead work and then when you get into it, the character pops out and you can really appreciate her take on BB-8.

Duane Koyawena, Hopi/Tewa

Duane Koyawena, Hopi/Tewa Miniature Hopi Mando Acrylic on PLA

Credit: Duane Koyawena, Hopi/Tewa HOPI-8 Watercolor on paper On loan courtesy of Dorren Thibodeau

Rich: I see we’ve got a few more of your pieces here.

Duane: This one is owned by Dorren Thibodeau, Tony’s son. I made this piece actually at my old job at the Flagstaff Medical Center. I used to work with kids in the behavioral health unit and I would paint stuff periodically. I did this watercolor there and I kept it. I had it on display at an art show in Flagstaff and Doran’s son really admired it. He had asked me how much it was and I asked him how much he had, and he said, “I got like $20”. and then I said “Yes I’m going to remember that.” I let it go for him, but his dad was like, “How much?” I was like, “No, that’s cool.” He really liked it.

The little minis were also 3D-printed by Joe Mastroianni. He got a 3D printer, so we started printing these and just started having some fun decorating them with Hopi pottery designs. The other helmets, including Hopi Trooper and Hopi Mando are a little larger, closer 6 inches tall.

Rich: Of course I’m going to pause right here at Hopi Trooper because this is probably one of my favorite pieces of yours.

Duane: Yeah that one’s owned by Sam’s youngest. He really liked it and would always look at it in my house and then I finally just said “You know what? You can have it.” So he owns that piece now.

Yancey Katoney, Diné

The team at TCA quotes Yancey’s inspiration for The Side of Castle Butte. “I was inspired to use the Castle Butte because it is familiar in my collective memory. The shapes have always been very curious to me. The imagination like our home land could very well be thought of as synonymous. … My mother kept a running theme in my mind of the possibility of what those rocks could be, a movie set, a playground, Godzilla or Mothra coming up out of the earth. Here it is ‘A long time ago in a galaxy far far away…’. These were always running scenarios as we would pass by these monolithic landmarks against the night sky coming from church revivals as a child.

According to Duane, “Yancey’s Mandalorian, Flint Rock, is about my late friend Adrian Nez who had encouraged me to change some old habits. A true “Naabaahii”, we knew him as Flint Rock.

Michael Toya, Jemez Pueblo

Duane: These are by Mike Toya, a Jemez Pueblo artist and huge Star Wars fan. He has been making Star Wars art for a long time too. In the two examples we have here, Village Protector and Chief Grogu, Mike used acrylic on canvas. I love his take on the character of Grogu, wise beyond his years.

Stay tuned for more examples of Native art in Return of The Force Part 5.

Catch up on The Return of The Force Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3!

July 7, 2025July 8, 2025

The Return of the Force, Part 2: From Apache to Zuni

This post is the second 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.

Rod Velarde, Jicarilla Apache

Rod Velarde, Jicarilla Apache TD112 Mixed media on canvas and plastic

Rich: Sam, as we start to make our way through the exhibit, can you tell me about these two mixed media pieces?
Sam: These first two pieces are by Rod Velarde, a Jicarilla Apache artist who incorporates a lot of mixed media artwork on pieces, like licensed helmets and toy figures. He’s previously done pieces like these in the Mimbres style from southern New Mexico.
You can see that in the animal figures, and in the way he highlights the influence of traditional art and his cultural heritage in the four-foot figure and the mixed media painting. He sometimes creates pieces in black and white, but these are a little more colorful. You can see there’s things like fish, birds and natural elements incorporated, while also taking on that pottery style that is really popular with all ages. You can also see how he uses both 3D and 2D elements. I like that he left the blaster in the canvas piece white to draw your eye to that specific element.
A lot of the guys are also enthused about Rod Velarde because he does a lot of comic cons and dresses up in costume too. So he’s probably one of the most popular artists in this exhibit.

Credit:
Rod Velarde in Native American-styled Mandalorian Costume
áyA Con 2024
Photo by Daniel Suave

He’s done a number of helmets and people have collected those, so when we premiered the second exhibition, some of his collectors wore them to the exhibit. It was really cool to see people not only enjoying them as art pieces but actually wearing them!

Alessia and Fabian Queisowki, Zuni

Rich: There’s a little bit of a glare on the case, but please tell us about this little collection of beaded figures.
Sam: Those pieces were in the initial exhibition. They actually belong to the Museum of Northern Arizona in their permanent collection. Those are by two Zuni artists – a husband and wife duo, Alessia and Fabian Queisowki. What Tony (the person who purchased them for the museum) really liked about them is that some of them are articulated. If you look at the Leia piece, you can see not only did they bead the whole Leia figure, but they also made a hood for her robe that actually moves on and off. Definitely really cool and different, especially since it takes great skill and effort to make lightsabers. Yes, all the details on Chewbacca to make him look furry, and Boba Fett even has his blaster and his cape!

Darby Raymond-Overstreet, Diné

Rich: I’m going to come around the corner to the other side of this case and we’ve got some very interesting bead work here. Please tell me about these beaded lightsabers.
Sam: Those are by Darby Raymond-Overstreet, a Diné artist who has another piece in this exhibit as well. One of the things that we’ve tried really hard to do in this exhibit is to be inclusive of different people’s perspectives. A lot of the artwork of course is done by male artists, but being able to incorporate the female perspective and picking up on what they want to highlight is very important to us.
Darby does a lot of graphic design, but she is very accomplished and skilled at beadwork, as you can see in the fine details she has incorporated into these lightsabers. People do have their favorites when it comes to lightsabers – they have certain colors and are associated with different characters, so we are excited to have such a wide array among the ones that she featured.

Ryan Singer, Diné

Rich: All right now, we’re moving on to a piece by Ryan Singer. I would love to learn about the influences that inspired this piece.
Duane: This one actually belongs to the Museum of Northern Arizona. This is part of the permanent collection and the title of it is (De)Colonized Ewok. It is playing off of a really famous before-and-after portrait of a young native man whose photo was taken before he entered into boarding school and then the other after he was “assimilated”.
What Ryan is saying in this depiction expresses some really tough situations and topics regarding boarding school and the impact that it had on native people and their culture. From the late 1800s to the mid 1900s, children were forcibly removed from their homelands, and put into these boarding schools in an effort to “civilize” them. The goal was to remove elements from their culture, like punishing them if they spoke their languages, or changing their appearance to make them look the part.
It’s important that he’s kind of spoken about that idea and it is interesting to people because it incorporates characters they know from Star Wars and can kind of relate to. It makes them begin to think about a really tough subject, and I think that’s a really interesting part of what he’s able to do with his artwork.
Randy Kemp, Choctaw/Mucogee-Creek/Euchee

Rich: Alright, Sam, please tell us about this interesting piece by Randy Kemp.
Sam: I love this piece by Randy Kemp. He was featured in the first exhibit, and we’re glad that he was able to do it again. What I like is that he’s Choctaw/Mucogee-Creek/Euchee, and he really taps into mixed media. You can see some different pieces that he used for the buttons on Councilman Wookie, which are pretty funny. You can see a couple of Buffalo-head nickels, chips from a casino, and Chewie has a gold tooth. I love that commentary right there, maybe a political aspect of this artwork, but his use of texture and color really draws people in. I think that he has collectors who really like his perspective. I sure can appreciate the mix. All his pieces have been about the Wookiee, so he loves Wookiees.

Stay tuned for more diverse perspectives coming up in Part 3: Wearable Art, Comic Art & More.
Read Return of the Force Part 1

June 27, 2025June 27, 2025

The Return of the Force: A Celebration of Native Star Wars Art Part 1

I recently had the pleasure of visiting the Tempe Center for the Arts (TCA) in Tempe, Arizona to see an exhibition of Star Wars art created by contemporary Native artists entitled The Return of the Force. This exhibition ran from January through mid-May, and was the second showing of The Return of the Force, which debuted in 2023 in Durango, Colorado. This exhibition was a follow-up to The Force Is With Our People, held in 2019 at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, and curated by the museum’s ethnographer, Tony Thibodeau.

the return of the force — Credit:
Duane Koyawena and TCA

I’d like to recognize the artists who participated in this exhibition. Thank you for sharing your creativity and your stories. I would also like to acknowledge the Gallery team at TCA for hosting this exhibit, and I want to express my heartfelt thanks to Duane Koyawena (Hopi/Tewa) and Samantha Honanie (Hopi/Diné). I am grateful for your insights and your collaboration in helping me share these stories.

Credit:
Duane Koyawena (Hopi/Tewa), Samantha Honanie (Hopi/Diné) and Hopi R2

When I learned about the exhibit, I reached out to artist and curator Duane Koyawena (Hopi/Tewa), and asked him if he’d tell me about a few of the artists and their work to share with the Rancho Obi-Wan community. At TCA, I met Duane and Samantha Honanie (Hopi/Diné), volunteer consultant and librarian at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff.

As soon as we started exploring the exhibit, I realized that these works, and the rich stories they convey, need to be shared far and wide. So, with their permission, I am thrilled to present this blog series, The Return of the Force: A Celebration of Native Star Wars Art, to provide a virtual tour of the exhibit as led by Duane and Sam. The series will consist of six parts:

The Return of the Force, Part 1: Meet Hopi R2

The Return of the Force, Part 2: From Apache to Zuni

The Return of the Force, Part 3: Wearable Art, Comic Art & More

The Return of the Force, Part 4: Canvases Take Many Forms

The Return of the Force, Part 5: Endings Are Always Beginnings

The Return of the Force, Part 6: For the Guy Who Has Everything

Part 1: Meet Hopi R2

Duane Koyawena, Hopi/Tewa, and Joe Mastroianni, Anglo

Rich: Duane, this exhibit is phenomenal. To kick off this virtual tour, can you share the origin story of Hopi R2?

Duane: Yeah, I’ll tell you the story of Hopi R2. In the beginning, the first exhibit was called The Force Is With Our People. They wanted to get a droid for the exhibit, but it was going to be pretty pricey to get a real, functioning one. So, the marketing director of the museum asked her husband who is an engineer from New Jersey, Joe Mastroianni, if he could build one. He did some research and decided, “Yeah, I can build it.”

That’s when he discovered a whole new world—the R2 Builders Club where people build different pieces from all over. So when he decided to build it, he started collecting the parts and asked me if I would paint it. At first, I didn’t really believe that he was actually going to build an R2.

But then I saw the dome when we went over to his house. He said, “Check this out! I got the dome.” And I was like, “Wow, he’s really going to do it.” That’s when I had to buckle down and start coming up with ideas.

The concept I landed on came when he was holding the dome upside down, kind of like a bowl. It reminded me of a Hopi pottery bowl, the way he was carrying it. I asked Joe if he could make the head spin fully without the wires getting tangled. He said, “Yeah, I can do that.” So once I knew it could spin, I added a band around the head.

Then he started giving me all the different panels, and I decided to paint it all like Hopi pottery. A lot of people say he looks like wood, but I was really going for the look of clay pottery. We started putting symbols together, and when he was finished, we brought him to the show. We call him “the first Indigenous droid in the galaxy”.

Rich: Where has Hopi R2 traveled?

Duane: We’ve taken him to the last two shows we’ve had: The Return of the Force in Durango, and the original The Force Is With Our People in Flagstaff.

We’ve also taken him to a lot of schools and a few museums. He’s kind of built a name for himself. Since he’s decorated in Hopi pottery designs, that’s why we call him Hopi R2.

The cool thing is, when we take him around, Joe is able to talk in-depth about the engineering and robotics behind it, which helps inspire kids—whether they’re already interested in that stuff or not. He’s controlled by a PS4 remote and loaded with Arduinos and servos, so Joe definitely worked his magic on the droid.

Rich:
He’s awesome, and he represents exactly what drew me here. At Rancho Obi-Wan, our mission is to inspire through the Force of imagination. Hopi R2 is the perfect example of that. But he’s just one of many.

Stay tuned for more fascinating artwork and stories in Part 2: From Apache to Zuni.