Tony Abeyta works and lives in both Santa Fe, NM, and Berkeley, CA. Inspired and encouraged by his artistic family, Tony began his studies at the Institute of American Indian Arts, graduating in 1986. Like his father and sister who studied there before him, he was highly influenced by the masters of the Native American Fine Art movement, and by the city of Santa Fe and his home state of New Mexico. Tony’s commitment to education and circles of artists, creatives, and friends from around the world is a manifestation of his expansive artistic philosophy. Tony earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Maryland Institute College of Art, in Baltimore, MD, and his master’s degree from New York University, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. His studies also took him to the Art Institute of Chicago; the Studio Arts Center International, in Florence, Italy; the Lacoste School of Fine Arts, France; and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, ME. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Institute of American Indian Arts. In 2012, Tony received the New Mexico Governor’s Excellence in Arts Award and was recognized as a Native Treasure from the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Santa Fe, NM. In 2018, he received the Masters of the American West Gene Autry Memorial Award from the Autry Museum of the American West.
Tony’s practice extends to a wide range of subjects, styles, and techniques, often working on different series simultaneously. A key figure in the Native American Art movement since the early 1980s, he has become one of the most successful and important artists of his generation. His early paintings depicted art and life as a Navajo person. His landscapes connect earth and sky, place and memory with the ever-changing energy and spirit of the natural world. Integrating Navajo images and objects into the realm of abstract painting, he has established an ongoing dialog between gestural brushstroke and line, printmaking, jewelry, sculpture, and contemporary culture. Tony refers to the personal, cellular, or cosmic perspectives, looking to modern life and the contemporary art world while paying homage to the past and tribal traditions. Tony’s work is included in many public and private collections throughout North America, Europe, and Japan, including the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian; the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution; Boston Fine Arts Museum; Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ; the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Santa Fe, NM; Denver Art Museum, CO; Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles, CA; The Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Indianapolis, IN. Recent exhibitions include Stretching the Canvas: Eight Decades of Native Painting, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution; 2020 Masters of the American West Art Exhibition, Autry Museum of the American West; Convergence: Tony Abeyta, Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff, AZ; and Underworlderness, The Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ.