Arthur Douglas Amiotte

Place: Pine Ridge

Born: 1942

Biography:

Arthur Douglas Amiotte (Waŋblí Ta Hóčhoka Wašté or Good Eagle Center) is an Oglala Lakota Native American painter, collage artist, educator, and author. He was born on the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1942 and raised between there and Custer, SD. He is a member of the Oglala Lakota Oyate. Given the Lakota name Warpa Tanka Kuciyela or Low Black Bird as an infant, he received his second Lakota name in 1972. Standing Bear (Mató Nájin, 1859–1933), Amiotte’s great-grandfather, was at the Battle of Little Big Horn. From 1969 to 1975, his grandmother Christina Standing Bear, a sacred bundle keeper, taught him the heritage of his great-grandfather, who illustrated Black Elk Speaks. He credits his interest in the tribal arts to living on the reservation and being with his family as they participated in traditional tribal arts and ceremonies. He received a Bachelor of Art Education from Northern State College in Aberdeen, SD, in 1964 and a Master of Interdisciplinary Studies in Anthropology, Religion, and Art from the University of Montana, Missoula, MT. There he studied with renowned scholar, Joseph Eps Brown. Amiotte holds honorary doctorates from Oglala Lakota College, Kyle, SD, and Brandon University, Manitoba, Canada. While several college professors encouraged Amiotte to pursue art as a career, Dakota (Sioux) artist Oscar Howe inspired him to utilize his Lakota background and culture in his artwork. Peter Catches, Sr., a respected elder, and practitioner of sacred Oglala traditions, mentored him. Amiotte is a contemporary Lakota artist, historian, educator, and highly sought-after author and lecturer on historical and modern American Indian art. Amiotte is one of the most influential artists portraying Lakota life, thought, and philosophies.