Manfred susunkewa biography

Manfred Susunkewa was born at Second Mesa on the Hopi Reservation in 1940. Manfred is the maternal grandson of Daisy Honanie and Thomas Honanie. Manfred attended Haskell Indian School, Santa Fe Indian School, Institute of American Indian Arts, and University of Arizona.  He is a commercial artist, Katsina carver, fabric artist, weaver, ceramicist, sculptor and painter. Arizona Highways Magazine described him as a “Pioneer of the Arts and Crafts development in Scottsdale.”

This piece features a familiar subject—a Navajo Yei figure—executed in an unconventional fashion.  It’s a serigraph, or “screen print,” executed on a large piece of hand-dyed cotton. The screen printed Yei figure, flanked by tall corn plant designs, is simple and very well crafted.  Were it not for the Yei’s feet, which point in the same direc