Native American (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation), 20th–21st century, male.
Born 1946, in Montana.
Printmaker, photographer, conceptual artist, installation artist.
Corwin Clairmont, or ‘Corky’, received his MFA from California State University, Los Angeles in 1971. His early work, concerning social and environmental issues, earned him a Ford Foundation Grant (...
Native American (Tlingit and Aleut), 20th–21st century, male.
Born 1979, in Sitka (Alaska).
Conceptual artist, performance artist, musician. Installation, video, mixed media.
Nicholas Galanin is a Tlingit and Aleut artist. He received a BA in jewellery design at London Guildhall University (2003), and a MA in Indigenous Visual Arts at Massey University (...
Native American (Cheyenne and Arapaho), 20th–21st century, male.
Born 22 November, 1954, in Wichita (Kansas).
Painter, draughtsman, sculptor, printmaker, installation artist, conceptual artist, educator.
Edgar Heap of Birds is one of the most distinguished North American indigenous artists of his generation. His works reveal a distinctly critical and historical awareness of the ways that American Indian peoples, their histories and their viewpoints have been ignored and written over under colonialism. He has received numerous honours, presenting his work in competition for the United States Pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennale (...
(b Wichita, KS, Nov 22, 1954).
Native American (Cheyenne–Arapaho) conceptual and performance artist. Creating ethnic commentary with introspective perceptions and communiqués of contemporary indigenous political frames of context, Heap of Birds demonstrated his analysis of colonized relationships and their aftermath. In his works unspoken rules and relationships between Native Americans and colonizers are deliberately provoked and questioned (see, for example, Day/Night, 1991). He candidly confronts stereotypes and the essential meaning of “Native” identity in legal and colonialist terms.
He earned his BFA at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS (1976), and afterwards studied at the Royal College of Art, London (1976–7). In 1979, the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA awarded him an MFA. Early works combined his enthusiasm for juxtaposed graphic images with text on sheet metal. Combining visual and linguistical representations, he offered fresh and provoking political commentary. His works were temporary and retained by a series of noted photographs taken during the performance event. He voiced questions between Native Americans and non-Native Americans about the precarious relationships of ethnic perception in modern day America....
Canadian First Nations (Kwakwaka’wakw), 20th–21st century, female.
Born 1969, in Comox (British Columbia).
Conceptual artist, installation artist, sculptor.
Marianne Nicolson is a Kwakwaka’wakw First Nations artist and intellectual. In 1996 she graduated from Emily Carr University of Art and Design, and went on to earn an MFA from the University of Victoria in ...
