Native American women in the arts

[2] She began to study under the guidance of popular sculptor Edward Augustus Brackett after moving to Boston in 1863, and there she created a bust of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the commander of the African American 54th Regiment.

This work drew great praise from the community, including that from fellow sculptor Harriet Hosmer[3] and the Shaw family, who offered to buy the bust.

[6] Lewis began to carve in marble to avoid accusations some would make of fellow artists that their work was done by studio stone cutters.

Another great inspiration of hers was the work of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his poem, The Song of Hiawatha, and she sculpted a bust in his honor due to her admiration.

The effects of death are represented with such skill as to be absolutely repellent—and it is a question whether a statue of the ghastly characteristics of this one does not overstep the bounds of legitimate art.

[9]In the late 1800s Angel De Cora (Ho-chunk) was a painter and writer who contributed to art as a Native American who had been assimilated through a policy put forth by President Grant.

[16] Though the history of Dat So La Lee is slightly of a mythic quality, what is known of her is her discovery as a washerwoman by Amy and Abe Cohn in 1895, who found her baskets incredibly intriguing.

[17] Though her basketry was revered, like many Native Americans of the day Dat So La Lee was presented by Amy Cohn as the noble savage through her lectures.

"[18] Further, Dat So La Lee's image was displayed on flyers as a simple-minded, unattractive native who Abe Cohn had to put up with.

It was Dat So La Lee who created the degikup style of basket weaving,[17] though Amy Cohn preferred to boast in lectures this was of the native "pre-contamination" past (that is, before European settlers had appeared).

Photography was a new medium at the turn of the century and women quickly added it to their repertoire, finding ways to send powerful messages about identity through their images.

Instead the images carry specific messages or stories about how individual artists interpret family and tribal histories, how they experience the present, or what they project for the future.

"[21] Cobb, the great granddaughter of Cherokee chief John Ross, began photography as a child in Tahlequah, Oklahoma after receiving a camera from her father.

This was attributed to Cobb's close connection to her subjects and the ability to, as Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie puts it, "truly (imagine) Native American women with love and a humanizing eye.

During the 1950s and 1960s McKay also made public-speaking engagements at universities and museums in California on Native American culture and the art of basket weaving.

Pop Chalee, who originally came from Taos Pueblo, ended up running away from her mother's home in Utah when she was only sixteen years old.

[24] After graduating Chalee was commissioned to paint a mural for Maisel's Trading Post along with fellow artists of the time: Awa Tsireh, Joe H. Herrera, Pablita Velarde, Harrison Begay, and Popovi Da.

She also performed while promoting the film version of Annie Get Your Gun, telling stories, lecturing, and even singing[24] while wearing native dress and elaborate accessories.

"In spite of the fact that she predated (Mungo Martin) and acted as his mentor, Canadian Council turned down a request to fund her totem pole projects as late as 1960.