Waldo Mootzka

Waldo Mootzka (1903–1940) was a Hopi watercolor artist.

Early life Waldo Mootzka was born in 1903 into the Hopi tribe near Oraibi, Arizona, also known as Third Mesa on the Hopi Reservation. His father was Tom Mootzka and his mother was a member of the Badger Clan. Based on census data, Mootzka grew up with three sisters–Daisy, Amelia, and Norma. Growing up in Hopi culture inspired most of the subject matter of Mootzka's paintings. However, there is not much said about his young childhood. Once he started to come of age he attended Oraibi day school. His informal training began at the boarding school, and he also studied at Shungopovi, known as Second Mesa There is no record of Mootzka being married. Toward the end of his life he started to study silversmithing in Santa Fe.

Career

Mootzka's career started during his time at boarding school observing fellow Hopi painter Fred Kabotie. These Hopi deities differ from the Pueblo peoples living the Rio Grande valley, in that the Hopis were much less influenced by Catholicism due to their remote location on three mesa tops in Arizona.

The Studio School movement

Mootzka's art was part of a trend in the 1930s in the Southwest, known as The Studio School movement. The painting style, introduced by Dorothy Dunn, an Anglo teacher at Santo Domingo Pueblo, acknowledged elements of Cubism, Symbolism and other current European sensibilities, yet promoted the "flat style" of painting found in traditional Pueblo pottery designs and murals. In the later part of his career Mootzka focused on silversmithing more than watercolor.

Collections Brooklyn Museum Museum of the American Indian in New York Gilcrease Museum Institute and the Philbrook Art Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff, Arizona Southwest Museum, Los Angeles, California