Marcelina Herrera

Marcelina Herrera, also called Hawelana or Ha-we-la-na, was an American painter from the Zia Pueblo tribe known for her flat painting style and use of pattern. From 1934 to 1937, she studied at the Santa Fe Indian School in Santa Fe, New Mexico at The Studio under Dorothy Dunn. Herrera went on to psychoanalysis at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Her discharge duty has been exhibited at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

In 1936, Herrera wrote, “The radical Paintings consist of ceremonies and new dances. They paint the things they accomplish in every day life. Some of the animals and some scenes are thesame to Persian paintings. Designs that the futuristic painters paint are purely abstract. None of the paintings are realistic. Beautiful paintings are produced more and more which emphasizes that the Indian art is rising again.”