Arthur Amiotte

• Name — Arthur Douglas Amiotte • Birth Name — Wanblí Ta Hócoka Washté • Born — 25 March 1942 • Birthplace — Pine Ridge, South Dakota • Known for — collage, printmaking, painting • Training — BA Northern State University • Awards — Bush Leadership Fellow, South Dakota Governor’s Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Arts

Arthur Amiotte was born on March 25, 1942, in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He was given the name Warpa Tanka Kuciyela or Low Black Bird as an infant, but received his second Lakota name in 1972. Amiotte's parents are Walter Douglas Amiotte and Olive Louise Mesteth. One of his aunts is Lakota artist Emma E. Amiotte. His great-grandfather Standing Bear (1859–1933) was at the Battle of Little Big Horn. Amiotte lived in the reservation until he was six and then visited it during summers up to the age of 15. During his studies at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota, Amiotte attended a workshop from Oscar Howe in 1961. From this encounter, Amiotte got a concrete example of how a native artist can be a contemporary artist. Amiotte received his bachelor's degree in Art and Art Education and was subsequently a teacher at Woodrow Wilson Junior High School in Sioux City from 1964 to 1966. Two mentors, in particular, guided Amiotte. From 1969 to 1975, his grandmother Christina Standing Bear, a sacred bundle keeper, taught him the heritage of his great-grandfather Standing Bear (Mató Nájin), who illustrated Black Elk Speaks. From 1972 to 1981, Amiotte was influenced by the Lakota medicine man Pete Catches (Oglala Lakota), who introduced Amiotte to Lakota spirituality and rituals belonging to Lakota traditions. He received his Masters of Interdisciplinary Studies in 1983 from the University of Montana-Missoula. Amiotte was professor of Native American art history at Brandon University, Manitoba, but in 1985, he decided to dedicate himself to art and he established his studio in Custer, South Dakota, in 1986. Amiotte curated exhibitions about the culture of the tribes on the Great Plains, such as at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian in Santa Fe, New Mexico; the Akta Lakota Museum in Chamberlain, South Dakota; the Buffalo Bill Historical Center of Cody, Wyoming; and the Museum of World Cultures of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, in 2006. In 2004, Arthur Amiotte lectured an Oscar Howe Memorial Lecture

Lakota philosophy and oral history form the foundation of Amiotte's artistic work. His creativity as a whole is an expression of the Lakól wicóh'an washtélaka – the love of the Lakota traditions. Amiotte promotes Lakota rituals and the visionary experiences during the traditional ceremonies also find their impact on his artistic work. Amiotte defines his work as being bound to the reservation culture which bridges the gap between yesterday and today, a split which is often mastered in an amazing manner. Amiotte has said, "I realized that contemporary art was ignoring the whole reservation period. This had been a dynamic time. Some people were going to school in the east, to Carlisle and Hampton... People were moving onto land allotments. They were familiar with print media, exposed to lots of magazines, pictures, photographs... Daily life was infused with this mixture of nonliterate/literate. There were new technologies... it seemed to me that it was more honest to deal with all this in my art, rather than to create a fake hide painting." His collage work is inspired by Ledger art but takes it to a new level. In a pointed and sharp-witted manner, they reveal the discrepancy of Lakota culture between tradition and modernism ("The Visit," 1995, Acrylic-Collage; Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Wyoming). He also explores experiences of Lakota people in Europe, during the Wild West show era of the early 20th century. Amiotte has participated in over 100 exhibitions, including over 20 solo exhibitions. He has shown throughout the United States and Europe, including at the Kunsthallen Bradts Klaedefabrik in Odense, Denmark in 1994 and 1995. His work, ranging from painting to sculpture and textile objects, is present in 26 public and about 200 private collections. His work is included in such public collections as the Denver Art Museum, the Sequoyah National Research Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, the National Museum of Natural History, as well as the following institutions. • The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, The Ethel Morrison Van Derlip Fund • Prince Albert, 1989, Collage and acrylic on canvas • 1913 Spring/Summer 1913- Giving Away His Suit, 1990 • Joslyn Art Museum: • New Horse Power in 1913, 1994, acrylic and collage on canvas • Hood Museum of Art • "Saint Agnes" Manderson, S.D. Pine Ridge Rez, 2001, Acrylic and collage on canvas, Purchased through the Phyllis and Bertram Geller 1937 Memorial Fund • Whitney Gallery of Western Art • The Visitors from Oklahoma, 1996, Collage and acrylic

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The authorities additionally record the headings Arthur Douglas Amiotte, Warpa Tanka Kuciyela, Low Black Bird, Wanblí Ta Hócoka Washté and Good Eagle Center. His recorded language was English. Other recorded relations include Standing Bear.