Art Lessons
by Cecilia Chan
Think about American Indian art, and what comes to mind? Beaded necklaces, kitschy dreamcatchers, Kachina doll knockoffs? Well, forget it. The art of American Indians currently enjoys its widest-ever exposure, renown and critical recognition, both in art circles and among the general public.
One
Indian artist, Robert Freeman, has seen his creations exhibited
at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., the
Los Angeles County Library, and the west steps of the California
state Capitol, where his design of the California Indian
Seal appears. The San Marcos resident — a Luiseño
Indian born on the Rincon Indian Reservation in San Diego
County — is also the artist-in-residence for USD's
annual American Indian Celebration, scheduled for April
25-27.
"I will be able to talk (to the public) and dispel a lot of the myths and ideas about the stereotypical Indian," says Freeman, a painter and sculptor who this semester will meet the public and the campus community as he works in USD's David W. May Gallery, in Founders Hall. "Lots of books have a lot of misconceptions about Native Americans — our beliefs, our lifestyle, what we eat and how we live.
"We are surrounded by a kind of unknown," Freeman, 64, adds. "We are not visible to the general public. When they do see Native Americans, they see them on television with feathers and tom-toms on horses and screaming."
Freeman took an interest in art while perusing downtown San Diego art galleries in the 1960s. Emulating abstract expressionists like Jackson Pollock and Robert Motherwell, he taught himself to paint using whatever materials were available. Cardboard, plywood, plaster board and drywall became his canvases, while his mediums included enamel house paint and shoe polish.
In 1967, Freeman became a full-time painter,
sculptor, muralist and
cartoonist, and since has won more than 150 National Indian
art
awards. On campus, he'll work on new creations in the May
Gallery,
which students from a museum studies class transformed into
an art
studio.
Visitors also can meet Freeman at the marketplace during the American Indian Celebration, which this year has the theme "Freedom in America." The annual festival grew out of the David W. May Indian Artifacts Collection, an assemblage of more than 1,600 artifacts donated to USD in 1994.
"Rather than this just being a nice art
collection, we felt we had an obligation to teach about
the people who are represented by it," says anthropology
Professor Alana Cordy-Collins, noting that there are 19
reservations, representing some 20,000 American Indians,
in the greater San Diego area.
Cordy-Collins, the festival's co-organizer, says children
from the reservations will attend the event so they can
see the potential to break into the mainstream of American
culture, a notion that Freeman encourages. Festival-goers
not only will be able to buy artwork, but also to interact
with the artists.
"It's so different from going to Nordstrom,
buying a piece of turquoise and not knowing who made it
or why," Cordy-Collins says. "This way you have
the whole history of the piece. It's an opportunity to meet
someone from a different ethnic background, and, in part,
it fulfills the university's mission to
bring diversity to the campus."