W. Richard West, Sr.

Walter Richard West Sr. (1912–1996, Southern Cheyenne), was a painter, sculptor, and educator. He led the Art Department at Bacone College from 1947 to 1970. He later taught at Haskell Institute for several years. West was an enrolled citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes.

Early life and education West was born on September 8, 1912, in a tipi near the Darlington Agency in Oklahoma. His Cheyenne name, Wapah Nahyah, means "Lightfooted Runner." His father was Lightfoot West.

West attended Concho Indian Boarding School and Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas. At that time, Haskell had grades 9-12 and served as a high school; he graduated in 1935. (It later gained status as a junior college and then as a four-year college.)

From 1936 to 1938, West attended Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma,

As a young man, West played football and worked in oil fields.

In 1941 and 1942, West lived in Phoenix, Arizona, where he studied mural painting under Olle Nordmark (1890–1973), a Swedish-American artist and sculptor. West continued post-graduate studies at Northeastern State University, University of Tulsa, and Redlands College. He won two grand awards from the Philbrook Museum.