James Auchiah

Place: Oklahoma

Born: 1906

Death: 1974

Biography:

James Auchiah (1906-1974) was a Kiowa painter and one of the Kiowa Six from Oklahoma. He was born in Oklahoma Territory, near present-day Meers and Medicine Park, Oklahoma. His Kiowa name was Tsekoyate, meaning 'Big Bow'. He was a student in government schools, where he was not supported in learning about his Kiowas culture. He first studied art at St. Patrick's Indian Mission School in Anadarko, Oklahoma. His love for art was such that in elementary school, he was caught painting in class. As punishment, the teacher made him finish his painting instead of eating dinner. The skills of several young Kiowa living near Anadarko, Oklahoma had caught the eye of a government field matron, Susan Peters, in 1920. She noticed the artistic talent of Kiowa children and teens as they drew sketches on feed bags while waiting for their parents receiving rations at the government distribution center. She organized art classes for them, and Auchiah was one of her students. He attended special art classes with other Kiowa at the University of Oklahoma during the late 1920s under the tutelage of professors Edith Mahier and Oscar Jacobson, director of the School of Art. Auchiah served in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II and worked part time at the U.S. Army Artillery and Missile Center Museum at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. In the 1930s he completed murals at the Wiley Post Building (at that time the Oklahoma Historical Society building) in Oklahoma City, at the Oklahoma Federal Building in Anadarko, and at St. Patrick's Mission. Auchiah's work can be found in numerous private and public collections, including the Fort Sill Museum and the Gilcrease Museum. He continued to paint and teach art until his death on December 28, 1974, at Carnegie, Oklahoma.