Marcus Amerman
2004
Dubin Native Artist Fellow
Marcus Amerman, Choctaw, has been named the Ronald N. and
Susan Dubin Native American Fellow for 2004. Marcus is a painter,
sculptor, and an extraordinary bead worker. He began doing beadwork
at the age of ten, he says, "as a response to growing up in
a very creative environment. Almost everyone in my extended family
did beadwork for our own personal use and for adornment as Indians
and pow-wow participants, and I quite naturally adopted and adapted
this family tradition."
His work is a mixture of traditional
native subject matter and technique with contemporary elements and
a "Marcus" spin. His beadwork and painting are drenched
with color and commentary. Because of elements such as these, Marcus is one
of the most influential and important voices in the Indian artist
activist world.
He was one of the first leaders in the movement against the use of Native-themed
mascots in professional sports and his work often has a satirical, ironic,
and humorous tone.
Marcus is known nationally and internationally
for his pictorial-style beadwork. His creations have appeared in 40 exhibitions
since 1987, including "Who Stole
the Tee Pee?", Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of the American
Indian, New York, NY, "Fusing Traditions: Transformations in Glass by
Native American Artists", Museum of Craft and Folk Art, San Francisco,
Ca, and "Native Views:
Influences of Modern Culture", nationally-touring Artrain USA (an art
museum on rails). He has won honors at the Indian Art Northwest festival (an
Oregon
fine art market featuring Native artists), the Heard Museum Indian Fair & Market
in Phoenix, and is a three-time winner of the Native Artist Choice Award
at the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts Indian Market in Santa
Fe.
His
education
includes
study at Whitman College (Walla Walla), the Institute of American Indian Arts
(Santa Fe), and the Anthropology Film Center (Santa Fe). He has also worked
in short films, dance, fashion design, acting, and street theater.
Marcus
will access the Indian Arts Research Center collection to study
design and function for aesthetic and spiritual inspiration-searching
for inspiration
or, rather, having it find him as he walks through the vaults. The beaded
floral vest he hopes to create "would be the largest and most intricate
work I have ever attempted, and I imagine that it would garner attention
for both
traditional and contemporary Native beadwork and for my place in its evolution."
IARC at the School for Advanced Research is pleased
to welcome this remarkable and innovative artist as the Ronald N. and Susan Dubin
Fellow for 2004.
View more of Marcus Amerman's beadwork.
Images:
[Top left] Marcus Amerman, courtesy of Staci Goler.
[Top right] "She Touches Down" by Marcus
Amerman, copyright 2003. [Below] "Postcard" by Marcus
Amerman, copyright 2002.
