Southwest Indian Art Fair

February 23 & 24, 2013, on the Museum's Front Lawn

2005 Featured Artist: Lawrence Acadiz

Born in Tucson and a member of the Deer and Katsina clans of the Hopi tribe, Lawrence Acadiz showed talent at an early age. He was one of the first students in elementary school to be selected to the Gifted and Talented Educational Program (GATE). In his freshman year of high school he chose to leave the GATE program to attend Cholla High School. Lawrence then attended the prestigious Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico where he formally studied painting. It was there, with the influence of his roommate, that he began carving in 1984.

Lawrence comes from a line of well-known artists. His great-grandmother, Ella Soomah, is a renowned potter. His great-grandfather, Fritz Soomah, is a katsina doll carver and the one who gave Lawrence his first Hopi name—"Chutima," which means cottontail jumping and reflects Lawrence’s high energy level. His grandmother, Amelia Martin, was a potter, and his great-uncles Guy and Alfred Fritz, and uncles Lorenzo and Johnny Martin, are also well-known katsina doll carvers.

Lawrence has won honors at Santa Fe, Gallup, the Heard and many other markets. In 2005 he was the featured artist at the Arizona State Museum’s Southwest Indian Art Fair. He makes his home in Tucson with his wife and two daughters. He returns often to First Mesa for ceremonies and to harvest cottonwood root, the traditional medium for katsina dolls.

All Featured Artists by Year

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