Hopi carver Mavasta Honyouti at Wheelwright Museum in Santa Fe

Celebrating the innovative vision of Hopi carver Mavasta Honyouti, Carved Stories at the Wheelwright Museum in Santa Fe presents 30 of his more recent works and 16 panels from a new series, never before exhibited, and linked to the publication Coming Home. Carved Stories by Mavasta Honyouti has been developed in dialogue with the Honyouti family and with noted designer Kevin Coochwytewa (Hopi/Isleta Pueblo).

This is the first museum exhibit dedicated to Honyouti’s work. The presentation will be on view from October 13, 2024, through April 12, 2025.

Mavasta Honyouti (b.1979) is a multi-disciplinary award-winning artist from the village of Hotevilla on the Hopi Reservation, Arizona. His wood carving, painting, digital drawing, and fashion works have gained critical acclamation. Carved Stories highlights Honyouti’s creative practices, how he draws from his family and Hopi lifeways, and his keen interest in mainstream popular culture. By spending extended time with each piece, the viewer enters the stories behind his carvings.

Carved Stories presents all 16 low-relief carving panels from the Coming Home series, now in the Wheelwright Museum’s permanent collection. These were made in conjunction with the publication of the bilingual (Hopi/English) children’s book Coming Home: A Hopi Resistance Story (Levine Querido).

“Honyouti is a visual storyteller, and the artwork on view is truly heartfelt and shows amazing depth,” Curator Will Riding In (Pawnee/Santa Ana Pueblo) said. “It is a privilege to have worked with him on the development of the exhibition, and to be able to share his vision and insights.”

As well as being an artist, Honyouti is a father and a middle school educator in his community. He comes from a family of carvers, and the work of his father, Ron (b.1955), his uncle Richard (b. 1948) and his brother Kevin (b.1994), are also featured in the exhibition.

“Carved Stories brings Mavasta Honyouti’s work, and that of his family, to the attention of our visitors and is a wonderful example of Will Riding In’s inspired curatorial practice,” Executive Director, Henrietta Lidchi. said. “The Coming Home series, which is the centerpiece, is a major acquisition for the museum and we are grateful to the private donor who supported this exhibition.”

Coming Home visually recounts the story of Honyouti’s paternal grandfather Clyde Honyouti’s experience of an off-reservation federal boarding school and is a tribute to his resilience.

“This whole series is meaningful to me, it was more than plaques and carvings, it’s a personal story, a personal history,” Mavasta Honyouti said of this recent work.

Coming Home: A Hopi Resistance Story, written and illustrated by Honyouti will be released November 5, 2024 (Levine Querido). The Wheelwright will host a book launch with Honyouti on November 9, 2024.

ABOUT THE WHEELWRIGHT MUSEUM

The Wheelwright Museum is New Mexico’s oldest independent non-profit museum. Founded in 1937 by Mary Wheelwright and Navajo singer Hastiin Klah, the Museum presents exhibitions of contemporary and iconic Native American art.

The Museum is also home to the Jim and Lauris Phillips Center for the Study of Southwestern Jewelry, which contains a comprehensive collection of Navajo and Pueblo jewelry of all eras. For more than eight decades the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian has honored Native voices through art.