Arthur Amiotte

Arthur Douglas Amiotte (Waŋblí Ta Hóčhoka Wašté or Good Eagle Center) (born 1942) is an Oglala Lakota Native American painter, collage artist, educator, and author.

Biography 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. His great-grandfather Standing Bear (1859–1933) was at the Battle of Little Big Horn.

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

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

Works

Main exhibitions and artworks 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. 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

Publications and lectures

He frequently lectures at home and abroad and is a published author. In 1989 Amiotte wrote with a chapter about Sioux Arts in the important volume, Illustrated History of the Arts in South Dakota, published during the state's centennial.

Indian Arts and Crafts Board of the U.S. Department of the Interior, Photographs and Poems by Sioux Children, from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, selected by Myles Libhart and Arthur Amiotte, with an essay by Arthur Amiotte, Rapid City 1971.

Honors From 1979 to 1981, Amiotte served on the Presidential Advisory Council for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. which allowed him to study Northern Plains art collections in the United States and Europe at the University of Montana-Missoula.

Amiotte received the Getty Foundation Grant in 1994 and 1995

In 1999, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award as Artist and Scholar by the Native American Art Studies Association.

Arthur Amiotte holds honorary doctorates from the Oglala Lakota College and the Brandon University, Manitoba.