2011 Living Indian Treasure Award – Arthur Amiotte

Throughout his life, Arthur Amiotte has pursued scholarship and intellectualism. He received a bachelor’s degree in art education from Northern State College in Aberdeen in 1964 and earned a Masters of Interdisciplinary Studies in Anthropology, Religion, and Art from the University of Montana, where he studied with renowned scholar Joseph Eps Brown. He also holds honorary doctorates from Oglala Lakota College, Brandon University in Manitoba, Canada, and South Dakota State University. While several college professors encouraged Arthur to pursue art as a career, it was Dakota artist Oscar Howe who inspired him to utilize his Lakota background and culture in his artwork. He was mentored by Peter Catches, Sr., a respected elder and practitioner of sacred Oglala traditions.

Arthur is a contemporary Lakota artist, historian, educator, and highly sought after author and lecturer on Native American arts and contemporary Native art. Over the past 15 years alone, he has lectured worldwide on a variety of topics, including at the Wheelwright Museum in Santa Fe; the Museum of World Cultures in Frankfurt, Germany; the German-American Institute in Heidelberg, Germany; the Hood Museum at Dartmouth College; the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Alberta; and numerous institutions across South Dakota and the region. He wrote the section on Sioux Indian arts for the Illustrated History of the Arts in South Dakota, which was published during the State’s Centennial in 1989.

Arthur’s career spans four decades, as one of the most influential artists in portraying Lakota life, thought, and philosophy in the Northern Plains Region. His stature as an educator and artist has been recognized by appointments to prestigious boards and councils, including a temporary advisorship to the director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and the Presidential Advisory Council for the Performing Arts at the Kennedy Center. Arthur has also served on the Indian Advisory Board of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center at Cody, Wyoming. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Native American Art Studies Association, a commissioner of the United States Department of the Interior’s Indian Arts and Crafts Board, and a member of the Council of Regents of the Institute of American Indian Arts.

Arthur is the recipient of an impressive array of awards, including Arts International; Lila Wallace Readers Digest Artists at Giverny, France, Fellowship; a Getty Foundation Grant; a Bush Leadership Fellowship; the South Dakota Governor’s Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Arts; and the Lifetime Achievement Award as Artist and Scholar from the Native American Art Studies Association. Most recently, Arthur was awarded an Enduring Vision Award from the Bush Foundation, which is focused on propelling the artistic careers of mature artists, those with 25 years of experience as working artists. Bush Foundation President Peter C. Hutchinson said that artists who receive this fellowship “typify courageous leadership. Through their work as artists and citizens, they have contributed to a richer dialogue about the concerns of our contemporary times, mentored others, and enhanced the quality of the lives within their communities.” Arthur’s work is included in 26 public and nearly 200 private collections.