Cody, Art aka Haungooah

Art Cody (1943-1985) was a Kiowa man serving in the US Air Force, stationed in Fort Worth, TX. when he met and married Martha Suazo of Santa Clara Pueblo. She was going to college in Fort Worth. When he was discharged from the Air Force, they moved to Martha’s home at Santa Clara. There he learned the Santa Clara methods of the traditional art of making pottery.

Art later attended Cameron College in Lawton, OK, the University of New Mexico and the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. He graduated from IAIA with an Associate of Fine Arts degree. He learned pottery making, silversmithing, jewelry making, painting, stone sculpture and bronze-making along his journey.

Art specialized in making small seed pots and decorating them with very fine sgraffito designs. Between 1971 and 1985, Art earned multiple awards at Santa Fe Indian Market and at the Heard Museum Indian Art Fair in Phoenix.

Art’s grandfather was a famous Kiowa scout and medicine man named James Haungooah (Haungooah means Silverhorn). James was an excellent artist and silversmith. Art signed most of his pottery with “Haungooah”.

Art’s wife Martha was hiking around the ruins of Puyé (the ancestral home of the Santa Clara people, located upstream along the Santa Clara River) and was killed by a bolt of lightning in 1983. Art remarried but in the fall of 1985, he, his new wife and their baby daughter died in a car accident near Santa Clara Pueblo.

Some of Art’s work is included in the object collection of the Heard Museum.

Art’s son, Dean Haungooah, carries on his fine tradition, although Dean now lives on the Navajo Nation.

Some Exhibits that have featured Art’s work

• Images from the Earth. Institute of American Indian Arts. Santa Fe, New Mexico. October 6 – November 3, 1978
• Scottsdale National Exhibition. Scottsdale, Arizona. 1974
• Southwestern Indian Arts Festival. Albuquerque, New Mexico. 1973

Some of the Awards Art earned

• 1979 Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts and Crafts Exhibit: Best of Show. Awarded for sculpture: “Clay Lady”
• 1979 Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts and Crafts Exhibit: Best of Sculpture. Awarded for sculpture: “Clay Lady”
• 1979 Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts and Crafts Exhibit: Best of Contemporary Rio Grande Pueblo Pottery. Awarded for miniature pot: “Blessing of the Flute Player”
• 1979 Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts and Crafts Exhibit, Classification II – Sculpture, Division A – Wood, Metal, Stone: First Place. Awarded for sculpture: “Clay Lady”
• 1979 Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts and Crafts Exhibit, Classification VII – Pottery, Division D – Miniatures: First Place. Awarded for miniature pot: “Blessing of the Flute Player”
• 1978 Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts and Crafts Exhibit, Classification VII – Pottery, Division C – Miniatures: First Place. Awarded for artwork: Miniature Pot
• 1977 Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts and Crafts Exhibits, Classification VII – Pottery, Division C – Miniatures (under 2-1/2″): First Place. Awarded for artwork: Black grasshopper bowl
• 1976 Scottsdale National Exhibition, First Place
• 1973 Southwestern Indian Arts Festival, First Place. Albuquerque, New Mexico
• 1972 Heard Museum Guild Indian Arts and Crafts Exhibit, Classification XII – Pottery, Division B – Contemporary: First Place. Awarded for artwork: Footed Bowl with Feathers and Shell