Mission Statement
The purpose of the Oscar Howe Memorial Association at The University of South Dakota is to preserve the artistic legacy of Oscar Howe as a major American artist through educational and creative projects which focus upon his contributions to Modern Art and to his native culture.
The Oscar Howe Association seeks to achieve its mission through:
- The acquisition of works of art by Oscar Howe;
- The maintenance of the Oscar Howe Gallery and Collection under the auspices of the University Art Galleries of The University of South Dakota;
- The maintenance and updating of the Oscar Howe Archives in the I. D. Weeks Library on The University of South Dakota campus;
- The support of educational projects including books, videos, films, and exhibitions on and by American Indian artists;
- The awarding of scholarships to promising American Indian high school artists to attend the annual Oscar Howe Summer Art Institute and;
- The awarding of grants to aid in career development of talented American Indian artists.
The Oscar Howe Memorial Lecture
This annual lecture was established in 1989 by the Oscar Howe Memorial Association at The University of South Dakota. Its purpose is to perpetuation Dr. Howe's message that American Indian art is a vital and contemporary cultural force in today's world. In this spirit, the Association has dedicated the annual lecture to issues relating to the American Indian Fine Arts Movement.
Former Oscar Howe Memorial lecturers include:
Frederic Dockstader, Ph.D.
Roland Force
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith
Mary Morez
Richard West, Jr.
Gerald R. McMaster
Richard W. Hill, Sr.
Linda Lomahaftewa
Colleen Cutschall
Bruce Bernstein, Ph.D.
Truman T. Lowe
W. Jackson Rushing, III
Rick Bartow
Marcus James Amerman
Ed Archie Noisecat
Arthur Amiotte
Joyce M. Szabo, Ph.D.
John A. Day
Bill Anthes, Ph.D.
Kate Morris
Former Oscar Howe Memorial Lectures:
2004 - Arthur Amiotte
Part 1 (30:46)
Part 2 (30:25)
Part 3 (7:58)
2007 - Bill Anthes
Part 1 (14:48)
Part 2 (14:48)
Part 3 (14:48)
Part 4 (8:17)
The 2010 Oscar Howe Memorial Lecture
“Oscar Howe and the Modernist Impulse” Mark White, PhD September 23, 2010 - 7:00 pm Farber Hall, Old Main
Abstract:
When Oscar Howe began his Master of Fine Arts at the University of Oklahoma, he was a respected practitioner of the style popularized at the Santa Fe Indian School Studio. His decision to study at OU was informed not only by the institution’s support for Native painting but also by the increasingly modernist tendencies of the faculty and the museum collections. This talk will explore how the modernist culture at OU influenced Howe’s stylistic and thematic departure from the Studio style and help to develop his mature style.
About the lecturer:
White is the Eugene B. Adkins Curator of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma. A scholar of both Native American and Euro-American art, he has published on diverse artists such as George Bellows, Alexandre Hogue, and Oscar Howe. He is currently working on the reinstallation of the Adkins Collection and organizing an upcoming exhibition on the history of Native American art at OU.
