A Hopi/Navajo basketmaker from Second Mesa, Arizona, Iva Honyestewa has been creating Hopi sifter baskets for sixteen years. “I learned how to make sifter baskets from my first cousin Beth Dawahongnewa. In 2006, my cousin told me she couldn’t believe how good I made them. That’s when I decided to enter the art competitions. I am excited that I am climbing the ladder of the artist world … I believe I can share my art with the world in creating new unusually unique baskets or figures.”

In addition to basketmaking, Iva has owned and operated the Isasokpu Gallery, a Native American arts store for twenty years. She is also working part-time on revising a Hopi Cookbook for the Hopi Putavi Project in partnership with the Hopi Community Health Representative Office, the Hopi Special Diabetes Program, and the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Hopi Office. Iva has contributed to the peer reviewed publication, Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition with her article, “Understanding Access to and Use of Traditional Foods by Hopi Women” (Volume 4 Issue 2, pp158-171.) Additionally, she has volunteered for many youth projects, including the Songoopafhoyam Youth Project, the annual Christmas program, Hopi language classes and Substance Abuse Prevention presentations.