Harry Fonseca

Harry Fonseca was born in Sacramento, California in 1946, and was of Nisenan Maidu, Hawaiian, and Portuguese heritage. He studied for a time at Sacramento City College and with Frank LaPena, art professor and former director of Native American Studies at California State University at Sacramento. Fonseca was a prolific artist throughout his nearly twenty-year career. His early work was influenced by Maidu creation stories, basketry designs, and dance regalia, as well as by his participation as a traditional dancer. A major work that Fonseca is recognized for is his Coyote series, which he began in 1979. A trickster figure, his Coyote protagonist was a vessel through which Fonseca filtered his vision of the artist, and “the Indian,” in the larger society.