ROCK SPRINGS — The Community Fine Arts Center is honored to be exhibiting the work of three artist form the Northern Arapaho Artists Society. Bruce Cook, Robert Martinez and Jackie Sevier have a variety of work but all is inspired by the traditions of their Native American cultures. The exhibit will be up through January 29th and a reception is scheduled for Friday, January 9th from 5 to 7 p.m.
Bruce Cook decided at a young age that he wanted to become a Haida artist as he watched his uncle carving a small model canoe. Little did he know what a large undertaking it would be, with such luminaries as Charles Edenshaw, Tom Price, Bill Reid, and Robert Davidson setting the standard for those who would follow.
While Cook was born in Ketchikan, Alaska, the family soon moved to the Wind River reservation. He has family from both the Northern Arapaho and Haida cultures. As a young man in 1988, Cook traveled with his family back to Alaska to visit his grandparents where he stayed to study Haida art with family friend and relative Warren Peele. In 1992 he moved to Seattle where he met Steven C. Brown, and began carving and studying with him. Along with his own work, Cook also carved a sixteen-foot canoe with Brown and assisted Shaun Peterson in carving a thirty-five foot sculpture called “The Return of the Story Pole” for the Chief Leschi School in Seattle.
Cook is an active participant in his community by being involved with the Haida Heritage Foundation, a group created twenty-two years ago to keep the Haida culture strong within an urban setting. He uses his artistic talents to create new masks, paddles, and rattles to help in bring the dances to life. Preservation of Haida culture is very important to Cook, who strives to keep Haida traditions alive by using his art to inspire the younger generation to become active in Haida culture and politics and to be proud of who they are.
Robert Martinez was born in Central Wyoming amidst the Wind River Reservation in the small city of Riverton. He grew up a part of many different cultures as his lineage is Spanish, Mexican, Scotts Irish, French Canadian and Northern Arapaho. With a scholarship to the Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design, he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts specializing in Painting & Drawing and minoring in sculpture.
As he was brought up in the center of the reservation, his native heritage remains a constant inspiration and source of ideas for his work. Living in Wyoming amongst the hard working people of the west and experiencing their issues also influence his creations. The past and present often resonate strongly in Wyoming and those historical chords echo throughout his work.
Much of Robert’s current work uses the historical imagery, myth’s and stories of the West and Arapaho Culture to create images that have a statement on the issues of today. Using intense vibrant color, he paints striking imagery that is confronting and engages the viewer.
Jackie Sevier is an enrolled member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe and is proud of her Native American heritage. Legends and traditions of her native Wind River Reservation in Wyoming are often subjects for her unique works of art.
Now living in the Nebraska sand hills near the small community of Seneca, her family encourages her to develop her talent and career at every opportunity. As a former competitor, her husband Jim, a former PRCA saddle bronc rider and their children Chessney and son Jesse, competing in rodeo is also an important part of her life and is often inspiration.
Continuing to study, Jackie credits “the greats who have not only taught me technique but expression, dedication, and determination.” Some of these people have been Benjamin Harjo, King Kuka, and Reynold Brown.
As Sevier’s work becomes recognized, awards and honors are accumulating; winning Best of Division for graphics at the prestigious Santa Fe Indian Market, the Aplan award, the Deiderich award, and the Bonnie Ericksen Award at the Red Cloud Indian Art Show. The National Campaign Office for the Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian has commissioned work. Her work can also be found in private, corporate, and university collections throughout the United States, Japan, Australia, Germany, and Great Britain.
Awards include honors at the Santa Fe Indian Market, Santa Fe, NM; Heard Fair, Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ: Cherokee Art Market, Tulsa, OK; Northern Plains Indian Art Market , Sioux Falls, SD; Red Earth Festival, Oklahoma City, OK; Cahokia Contemporary Indian Art Show, Collinsville, IL; Inter-Tribal Ceremonial, Gallup, NM; Lawrence Indian Art Show, Lawrence, KS; ; Sweet Willow Indian Market, Great Falls, MT.
Sevier’s works have been included in “Let the Spirit Speak”, Pope VI Institute of the Arts, Washington, DC: “Our Way Continues”, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO, The Sioux Indian Museum, Rapid City, SD, Museum of Anthropology, Lawrence, KS; “Influences of our Grandparents”, Oscar Howe Museum, Mitchell, SD; and “Heart Dreams and Legends”, a joint indigenous exhibit that toured the US and Australia. Her works were also included at the Bradford Brinton Memorial Museum, Sheridan, WY in exhibits “The Cowboy, Rodeo & WYO Rodeo”, “West of the Mississippi”, and “Ladies’ Choice.”
The public is invited to see this work as well as the permanent collection on display owned by Sweetwater County School District No. One. Hours are Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday and Saturday noon to 5 p.m.
