SIGNS OF SPRING in Bismarck are the robin and UTTC students doing sidewalk art. Student Stacey Speedis (Yakima Nation) grins over her creation. Photo by Dennis Neumann

Imagine our world without art! There would be no paintings, no dance, no sculptures, no drama. How would we preserve and share our cultures without art? How would we express our innermost thoughts?  How would tribal colleges and universities “feel” to us without art? How would we be able to tell our stories?

Communication among cultures can be difficult at best. When we encounter people from cultures different than our own, we see them as strangers — they look, act, and speak according to their own cultural norms, values, and beliefs. Whether it takes the traditional, contemporary, or performing arts form, art helps us communicate across cultures.

Tribal colleges and universities, in addition to providing our people with higher education, help to bridge the gap among cultures. The colleges sustain American Indian art forms through class and degree offerings that include traditional (shield making, drum making, arrow making, knapping, carving, masks, and pottery), contemporary (digital art, paintings, drawings, sculptures, poetry, and movie making), and performing arts (such as drama, story telling, and poetry slams).

Art and Tribal Colleges and Universities

Of the 36 American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC)-member colleges and universities, at least 12 offer art degrees (associate or baccalaureate) or at least art classes. In their college buildings and across their campuses, the tribal colleges highlight student, faculty, staff, and community art. Tribal colleges and universities are true institutions of the community. They offer an ambience for students and faculty that says, “You are home.”

“Art is the heartbeat and spirit of the tribal college,” says Corky Clairmont, the art director at Salish Kootenai College (SKC, Pablo, MT). “When you see the beadwork, the quill work, the painted designs, …they speak to the image or the form itself, but also talk about the respect that person has toward the giver — the animal, the trees, the earth.”

Clairmont, a member of the Salish-Kootenai Tribes, continues, “When you carve a buffalo spoon out of a buffalo horn and you make a nice carving on the handle, it serves a couple of purposes: First, it gives respect to the buffalo. When you carve on it, you’re enhancing and telling the buffalo spirit, ‘This is a beautiful gift. I’m doing this carving to honor your spirit.’ Second, it identifies the individual that has carved it…the special ability you have….”

Tribal colleges also provide outlets for students to exhibit their arts. The AIHEC Conference each spring offers art students the opportunity to display their work. A panel of AIHEC judges adjudicates tribal college student art each year.

“Student exhibits help me to bring important social and cultural issues and problems out in the open and to begin dialogue…,” says David Moreno (Pascua Yaqui), senior art student at the Institute of American Indian Art (IAIA in Santa Fe, NM).

At United Tribes Technical College (UTTC), an annual student art show is held every April. But before the art show, UTTC students participate in “sidewalk art” where anything goes on the sidewalks of downtown Bismarck.

“Art is a common communicative tool in any culture that may or may not be received positively by viewers or listeners…When we communicate verbally, we stand the chance of turning people off. Through art, the audience is more apt to listen,” says Wayne Pruse of UTTC’s art department.

“Our sidewalk art serves as a promotion for the student art show at the end of April…art is not intimidating, viewers can take meaning at their own pace…One of the reporters covering this event last year said, ‘Signs of spring are the robin and UTTC students doing sidewalk art,’” adds Pruse.

Creative Expression and Conflict Resolution

DESECRATION OF SOULS. Jeane La Rance decided to tell about the defilement of her ancestors, once buried in a cemetery in North Dakota.

What type of art are tribal college art students doing these days? What does student art communicate? Lee Anne Wilson (White Earth Chippewa), instructor of museum studies at IAIA says, “…It’s difficult to generalize about student art as IAIA encourages each student to find his or her own voice. Students tend to express their search for identity, family history, that place called home, and how and where they fit into the world around them.”

“Each piece of art that I make is different, and each one speaks for itself,” says Jeane La Rance (Chippewa-Cree), senior art student in sculpture and photography at the institute. La Rance just received an award at the AIHEC Conference for her sculpture titled, “The Desecration of Souls.”

As a student in IAIA’s contemporary issues in Native American art class, La Rance was asked to tell her story through any medium but writing. “I knew I had to address all the madness that has happened to my people…I didn’t even have to think about it…,” she says.

La Rance decided to tell the story of the defilement of her ancestors, once buried in a cemetery in North Dakota, but now serving as nutrition for a farmer’s crop:

“The Pembina Cemetery is my people…Now, this land is leased out to a farmer. He left one tiny spot on the hill [in respect] for the cemetery, he did not even bother to dig up the bodies of my people before he planted his crops…The farmer is still raising his crops.”

La Rance chose to use alabaster for her sculpture. She explains the symbolism: “My sculpture has two faces, one on either side to represent the male and female souls of my people. I placed my sculpture on a large wooden white cross and dated it. I took different sizes of iron and jabbed those into the stones. The cross represents the markers of the dead, the stone represents the earth, the faces represent my people who should be resting in peace, and the iron represents the machinery that was used to violate the cemetery.”

Art takes many forms and serves many functions. IAIA student David Moreno says his art is fueled by his feelings toward social issues like gang violence, domestic violence, drug abuse, and alcohol abuse.

“My paintings are in the abstract, expressionist style and represent my reactions to home and community social ideas or problems,” says Moreno. But he adds that just because he does a painting, doesn’t mean that the problem has disappeared for him.

For UTTC art major Stacey Lee Speedis (Yakama), one creative writing experience made her feel as if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She was majoring in creative writing at IAIA at the time.

“I went there carrying a heavy load…My dad did some God-forsaken things to me and my siblings…I was crying and crying when I was telling…my friend I was staying with. She took me to her sister who…[reminded me] that I always had someone to go to with my problems…God is always there. After I left her, I wrote down all the bad things he did to us…it was one of my best writings because it came from the heart.”

Historical vs. Contemporary Indian Art

What defines artwork as “Indian”? Does painting, dance, sculpture, etc. have to depict the 1800s to be Indian? Although this question might seem absurd, American Indian stereotypes continue to dictate the tastes of the buying public.

“An interesting issue for Native students is the traditional/contemporary dichotomy, which galleries often intensify by asking for work that looks ‘Indian,’” says IAIA’s Lee Anne Wilson.

Many customers and patrons of American Indian artwork tend to want art that depicts historical scenes and people. One reason: Print and visual media have continued to communicate stereotypes of American Indian people that reflect the past — not the present. And many times the clients of galleries want to have an “Indian theme” for specific pieces or collections of artwork.

“It’s extremely important for people exhibiting Native artwork to include contemporary Indian art… This is crucial for our people today because we need to keep reminding non-tribal members that we do exist —  and are excelling at what we do —  today,” argues Clairmont.

CHIEF STONE CHILD was painted by Jessie Henderson (Chippewa-Cree). This painting graces the wall at Stone Child College.

This does not mean that traditional Indian art — the art that our cultures have created for thousands of years — should be abandoned. Both traditional and contemporary art should be created and communicated in whatever form we have at our disposal.

History tells us that American Indian speakers were the most eloquent and dynamic communicators of early America. Today, Native people can use that skill for acting, according to Diné College student Gerald Vandever. In a speech at the AIHEC conference in April, he presented a dramatic rendition of Hamlet’s soliloquy as part of his argument for more Native involvement in acting.

“There are less than 1,000 Native American actors and actresses in the United States and Canada. Compare that number to the thousands of African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian actors and actresses,” he says.

Despite the low numbers, he believes Native children have many talents that could be utilized in acting. “Native children have amazing imaginations…Native children learn vicariously.” He believes that acting is extremely important for Native young people. “If we invest more in the performing arts in our communities, we will not be disappointed,” Vandever says.

Vandever wants to dispel the common myth that American Indian people are shy. “Personally, I don’t think we are shy people. Do you remember the cousin who didn’t say anything at school but when you got home, he or she was the most obnoxious person in your whole family?”

Doing art today is no different from Indian artwork of the past, argues SKC’s Clairmont. “…Artwork is taking knowledge from the past and incorporating it into new materials and new processes. Instead of making things out of hide, you make things out of metal. It’s okay to use a power drill and power saw; it’s okay to use a welding torch. As in times past, we use what’s available to us, and we tell our stories.”

Cleansing our Souls

As American Indian cultures and people, we must tell our stories of the past — and the present. “I made a collage to accompany my ‘Desecration of Souls’ sculpture and displayed this at the AIHEC meeting. The collage had a deep red background with names of my people buried at Pembina Cemetery,” says La Rance.

The artist saw a woman crying who recognized her own family name. “It was a most powerful experience,” says La Rance. This was only one of the many emotional responses to her work. People viewing her artwork, whether American Indian or not, placed themselves into the situation and became one with her art.

Thankfully, our world is abundant with many art forms including the natural beauty of our Mother Earth and Father Sky. The integrity and determination of American Indian people show through our art. We tell our stories, we release our inner feelings and thoughts, we cleanse our souls, and we communicate our experiences and cultures to others through art.

Rebecca Robbins (Lakota) holds a Ph.D. and a master’s degree from the Pennsylvania State University and has done post-doctoral work in rhetorical criticism at the University of Texas-Austin. She credits her two sisters, Mimi Robbins-McBride and Bonnie Jo Hunt, for keeping the beauty of art alive within her immediate family.