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Pine Ridge's annual American Indian show nurtures new talent, launches careers The Red Cloud Indian Art Show opened earlier this month at Red Cloud Indian School's Heritage Center at the Holy Rosary Mission School, six miles west of Pine Ridge. The center's gallery of 125 exhibits includes Indian artists from Canada and Mexico as the United States. “We're the largest and longest-running Indian art show on a reservation in the nation,” said Peter Strong, Heritage Center director. According to Strong, an estimated 10,000 local, national and international visitors will attend the free art show through Aug. 19. The juried exhibits will display a variety of established and young artists' abstract, realistic and cultural works, which are available for sale. This year, the panel of judges has awarded $7,000 in prize money as well as 14 awards to its contest category winners. “I think a lot of people in our state don't even realize what a treasure we have of quality art right here in our own backyard,” Strong said of the premiere art show. In its first transitional year since the death of the art show's founder, the late Brother C.M. Simon, who died in July 2006, Strong and Mary Bourdeaux, Heritage Center curator, have taken over coordinating the art show. An award will be presented to the best of show honoring the groundbreaking efforts of Simon in the arts, Strong said. “We have always strived to support young up-and-coming artists living on the reservation who don't have access to other shows in the cities,” Strong said of winning an art category. “It gets something on their resumes.” Arthur Amiotte, 65, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, agrees. Already exhibiting his paintings, mixed media and sculptures nationally and internationally by the late 1960s, Amiotte entered the Red Cloud art show for reasons other than establishing his work on the reservation. “Entering the show did bring financial rewards. But I initially entered to help support the show itself,” he said. Amiotte's fame attracted the interest of other established Indian artists including Mary Morez and the late Fritz Scholder, who entered their work at Red Cloud. Collectors, gallery owners and others soon followed these artists to view this extraordinary show. With a master's degree in art education, Amiotte once again will serve as one of Red Cloud's art judges. It is his third opportunity to critique the new artists' design, composition, technique, balance and many more aspects that make their work viable — or not. “You have to know the full range from realism to abstraction,” Amiotte said of his duties in judging the large show. Over the years, Amiotte has watched many young artists gain a solid foothold in the professional art world because of the local show. “Their work is very professional and very good. It's a step up and the beginning of their vita,” he said. Don Montileaux, a Rapid City artist and OST member, recalls attending the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, N.M., when invitations arrived from Red Cloud for young artists in 1968. It was his first art show in South Dakota. Over the years, the 59-year-old artist has won many prizes from the Red Cloud show for his renditions of traditional art. Those honors are prominently displayed in his resume. “I won best up-and-coming young artist. That's a lot of growth as an artist. It is definitely on my resume. Red Cloud is quite prestigious, and its honors are recognized in the larger cities of Phoenix, Indianapolis and Santa Fe,” he said. He said the show helped launch other South Dakota artists as well, including Martin Red Bear, Jim Yellowhawk and Don Ruleaux. It was once the only good art show he could get in. “That helped me get into other shows,” he said. “Now it's kind of like if I don't enter it, I feel bad.” Obligated or not, Montileaux's refined ledger art is in this year's show. Aside from the beauty and aesthetics of his art, it also provides the kind of details required to set art apart from the others in a juried field. Using acid-free matting, nonglare glass and framework that will enhance the art are givens in Santa Fe and Phoenix shows. But it might not be as apparent for a young artist from Kyle, he said. “We have to have that know-how to get to where we are at; it educates them about professionalism needed to win a show,” he said of the exhibits. Art show coordinator Strong welcomes everyone to the Red Cloud Art Show. In the time it takes to view the pieces within the gallery, you may discover the next Arthur Amiotte. Even better, you may be the first to collect your favorite artist's artwork while it's still affordable. “It's just a great little show,” Strong said. Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com. Article originally published online. |
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