[2] His father was Mark Auchiah, and his grandfathers were Chief Satanta and Red Tipi, a medicine man, bundle keeper and ledger artist,[3] respectively.
[4] Auchiah first studied art at St. Patrick's Indian Mission School in Anadarko, Oklahoma, under Sister Olivia Taylor, a Choctaw nun.
"[5] The skills of several young Kiowa living near Anadarko, Oklahoma had caught the eye of a government field matron, Susan Peters, in 1920.
[6] Susan Peters arranged for four young Kiowa, later adding a fifth student, James Auchiah, in helping them enter art classes at the University of Oklahoma.
Peters arranged for Mrs. Willie Baze Lane, an artist from Chickasha, Oklahoma to provide further art instruction for the young Indians, including Auchiah.
[8] The Kiowa Six, included six artists: Spencer Asah, James Auchiah, Jack Hokeah, Stephen Mopope, Lois Smoky Kaulaity and Monroe Tsatoke.
[7] In January 1927 Dr. Oscar B. Jacobson, Director of the School of Art at the University of Oklahoma, invited Spencer Asah, Jack Hokeah, Stephen Mopope, Louise Smoky Kaulaity, Monroe Tsatoke, and, later, James Auchiah to live in Norman so that he could instruct them.
James and his family were allowed to remove Satanta's remains eighty-five years after his death and after a long legal battle.
[9] During the 1920s and 1930s, Auchiah painted murals at the Oklahoma Historical Society, St. Patrick's Mission School, and the United States Department of the Interior.
[3] Auchiah also worked at the US Army Artillery and Missile Center Museum in Fort Sill, Oklahoma and was a curator there.