Doc Tate Nevaquaya

Joyce Lee "Doc" Tate Nevaquaya (July 3, 1932 – March 5, 1996) was a Comanche flute player and painter from Apache, Oklahoma. He is known for his contribution to the Native American flute music. His efforts in learning how to make Comanche flutes and play as well as compose contemporary Comanche flute music is considered to have saved the declining art from being lost completely. However, he said he considered himself a painter first, and painting was his primary art throughout his life.

Early life Joyce Lee Nevaquaya was born in 1932 in Apache, Oklahoma, to two Comanche parents, Victoria and Lean Nevaquaya. His parents died when Nevaquaya was only 13, so he lived with his grandparents, who taught him Comanche ways. He worked many jobs throughout his life and pursued his art on the side. Throughout his life, Nevaquaya worked as a teacher, Methodist lay minister, dancer, composer, singer, historian, painter, and Native American flautist. in the Oklahoma Traditional Style with mostly earth tones. He would begin with a sketch that would then be transferred to the board that would be painted on. He was very knowledgeable of Comanche history and culture, and his primary concern was in conveying the beauty of Comanche culture and identity, as well as that of the other tribes he depicted in his art. It is known that he was familiar with other Comanche artists as well, specifically Leonard Riddles (Black Moon Riddles), Bill Poafpybitty, Rance Hood, and Weckeah Bradley, and would invite them over frequently to discuss their art. He sometimes made cartoons as well and knew how to integrate comedy into his work as well.

Public collections Clarkson University Art Gallery, Woolaroc Museum, Bartlesville, Oklahoma In 2006, he was inducted into the Native American Music Awards Hall of Fame.

Death Nevaquaya died from a heart attack at the age of 64 on March 5, 1996, at Comanche County Memorial Hospital in Lawton, Oklahoma.

Films Songkeepers (1999, 48 min.). Directed by Bob Hercules and Bob Jackson. Produced by Dan King. Lake Forest, Illinois: America's Flute Productions. Five distinguished traditional flute artists - Tom Mauchahty-Ware, Sonny Nevaquaya, R. Carlos Nakai, Hawk Littlejohn, Kevin Locke – talk about their instrument and their songs and the role of the flute and its music in their tribes.

Performances The first Native American to perform at Carnegie Hall (1990) Codetalkers Decoration Ceremony, Oklahoma State Capitol (1989) United Nations Mission, New York (1985) "A Night of the First Americans" at the Kennedy Center, in Washington, D.C. (1985) Recorded Comanche Flute Music for Folkways Records (1979) National Folk Festival (1973) The Comanche Tu-Wee Dance at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. (1970) Goodwill Tour of England (1970)

Memberships American Indian Arts Association American Indian Cultural Society Oklahoma Indian Mission Arts and Crafts Organization Southwestern Indian Arts and Crafts, Inc. Oklahoma Indian Art League University of Oklahoma Board of Visitors (1994)

Awards and acknowledgments The Governor's Arts Award named him an Oklahoma Treasure in (1995) Selected the Red Earth Honored One (1993) Artist of the West Award at the American Indian and Cowboy Artists National Western Art Exhibition in San Dimas, California (1994) First Oklahoman to win the National Heritage Fellowship Award at the National Endowment for the Arts (1986) The second Friday in October was proclaimed Joyce "Doc" Tate Nevaquaya Day by the Comanche tribe (1986) LaDonna Harris Award from Oklahomans for Indian Opportunity (1986) Outstanding Citizen of Diamond Jubilee Heritage Week from the Apache Chamber of Commerce (1982) Indian of the Year award from Oscar Rose Junior College, Midwest City (1975) The "Doc Tate Scholarship Fund" under the University of Oklahoma's Fine Arts Department (1970) Outstanding Indian Artists Award from Southwestern State College in Weatherford (1969)