18 Facts About Harry Fonseca

Harry Eugene Fonseca was a Nisenan Native American artist, and illustrator.

Harry Fonseca was an enrolled citizen of the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians.

Harry Eugene Fonseca was born on January 5,1946, in Sacramento, California.

Harry Fonseca was Nisenan and of Hawaiian and Portuguese heritage.

Harry Fonseca was influenced by basketry designs, dance regalia, and by his participation as a traditional dancer.

In 1979, Harry Fonseca began his popular Coyote series, Coyote, an Indigenous California trickster, appears in contemporary settings.

In 1981 Harry Fonseca illustrated a book, Legends of the Yosemite Miwok, compiled by Frank LaPena and Craig Bates.

Harry Fonseca was particularly taken by petroglyphs in the Coso Range near Owens Lake, California, and petroglyphs from throughout the West and Southwest United States.

Harry Fonseca began a series of paintings he called Stone Poems, that draw heavily from these petroglyphs.

Harry Fonseca wrote that they are "a direct reference to the physical, emotional and spiritual genocide of the native people of California".

Harry Fonseca did many drawings and prints of Coyote and Rose, a female counterpart to Coyote, often depicted in a floral print dress.

Harry Fonseca later introduced the Coyote Koshare in several of his works.

Harry Fonseca's work was part of Stretching the Canvas: Eight Decades of Native Painting, a survey at the National Museum of the American Indian George Gustav Heye Center.

Harry Fonseca's artwork was showcased in numerous exhibitions at prestigious institutions, including ethnographic, historical, and natural history museums.

Harry Fonseca's work was featured at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, the Institute of American Indian Arts Museum in Santa Fe, the Wheelwright Museum in Santa Fe, and the Oakland Museum in California.

However, despite his achievements, Harry Fonseca faced challenges as an artist living in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

However, Harry Fonseca remained dedicated to his artistic vision and continued to create thought-provoking and impactful works.

Harry Fonseca was diagnosed with brain cancer and hospitalized in the Veterans Administration hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in August 2006.