Originally featured in Points West in Spring 2010
Arthur Amiotte, an Oglala Lakota artist and member of the Plains Indian Museum Advisory Board, believes that as a teacher, artist, and art historian, he should be a master of many artistic mediums in order to encourage students and other artists to understand Native American cultural traditions.
Amiotte’s art often addresses the persistence of Plains tribal traditions through the transitional reservation period. With bold colors and simple form, this banner represents a ribbon dress of the type worn by Lakota women from the 1880s until about 1940. Half the wool dress trimmed with satin ribbons is shown together with the belt of silver conchos.
“The arts document and push the frontiers of creativity by adapting to forces of modernity,” Amiotte says, “without forgetting the timelessness of tribal belief and wisdom.”
Arthur Amiotte (b. 1942). Banner, 1972. Museum Purchase. NA.302.102
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