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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.Lester, 14
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.Bates, 96
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 Oscar Howe Memorial Lecture
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."Berlo, Janet Catherine. Spirit Beings and Sun Dancers – Black Hawk's Vision of the Lakota World. P. 153
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.McFadden and Taubman, 241 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.
Amiotte received the Getty Foundation Grant in 1994 and 1995 and the Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Artists at Giverny Fellowship in 1997.
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.
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.
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.
Honors
From 1979 to 1981, Amiotte served on the Presidential Advisory Council for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. In 1980, he was awarded the South Dakota Governor's Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Arts. That same year, Amiotte was awarded the Bush Leadership Fellowship, which allowed him to study Northern Plains art collections in the United States and Europe at the University of Montana-Missoula.
Further reading
Bibliography
(2025). 9780807614655, George Braziller, in association with the New York State Historical Association. ISBN 9780807614655
National Museum of the American Indian (U.S.) (1994). 9781555912055, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, and Fulcrum Pub.. ISBN 9781555912055
(2025). 9780375412165, Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 9780375412165
Museums and exhibitions catalogs
(2025). 9780962277757, Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian. ISBN 9780962277757
External links
Categories: Oglala People, Artists From South Dakota, Native American Painters, Oglala Male Writers, Oglala Writers, 1942 Births, Living People, People From Pine Ridge, South Dakota, Northern State University Alumni, University Of Montana Alumni, Academic Staff Of Brandon University, People From Custer, South Dakota, Native American Academics, Oglala Male Artists, Oglala Artists
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