Edgar Heap of Birds (Hock E Aye Vi) (b. 1954) (enrolled in the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes) creates art that includes multi-disciplinary forms of public art messages, large scale drawings, Neuf Series acrylic paintings, prints,[1] and monumental porcelain enamel on steel outdoor sculpture.
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Early life
Hachivi Edgar Heap of Birds was born on 22 November 1954 in Wichita, Kansas, where his father worked in the aeronautical industry. He attended East High School in Wichita and graduated in 1972. After graduation in 1972, Heap of Birds studied at Haskell Indian School in Lawrence, Kansas.[2]
Heap of Birds received his MFA from Tyler School of Art, Temple University in 1979, his BFA from The University of Kansas in 1976, and has undertaken graduate studies at The Royal College of Art, London, England from 1976-1977.[3]
Professional career
Heap of Birds has taught as Visiting Professor at Yale University, Rhode Island School of Design, and Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town, South Africa. At The University of Oklahoma, Professor Heap of Birds teaches in Native American Studies and Fine Arts. His seminars explore issues of the contemporary artist on a local, national and international basis.
Heap of Birds's critical reputation has been established most by his political and site-specific public signage projects. One example is Building Minnesota (1990), a signage installation mounted on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota and commissioned by the Walker Art Center.[4] In it, Heap of Birds set forty large, metal, billboard-like signs along Minneapolis's downtown riverfront. The signs honored the forty Dakota men who were sentenced to death by Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Jackson after the US-Dakota Conflict of 1862, in what is the largest mass execution in American history.
Recently Heap of Birds created a fifty-foot signature, outdoor sculpture titled: "Wheel," as a signature entrance piece at Daniel Liebeskind's addition to the Denver Art Museum. The circular porcelain enamel on steel work was commissioned by The Denver Art Museum and is inspired by the traditional Medicine Wheel of the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming.
Awards
He has received grants and awards from The National Endowment for the Arts, Rockefeller Foundation, Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, Lila Wallace Foundation, Bonfil Stanton Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trust.
Books
- Blasted Allegories, an Anthology of Artists Writings, New Museum-MIT Press, 1987.
- Makers, Point Riders Press, 1998.
- The Myth of the Primitive, Susan Hiller (Editor), Routledge Press, 1991.
- Completing The Circle: Artists’ Books On The Environment, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, 1992.
- Visit Teepee Town, Native Writing After the Detours, Dianne Glancy and Mark Nowak, Coffee House Press, 1999.
External links
- Artist's Official website
- Heap of Birds Venice Biennale 2007 exhibit
- Who Stole the Teepee exhibit at the National Museum of the American Indian (see the Beyond Smoke & Mirrors section)
- Continuum 12 exhibit at the National Museum of the American Indian
Notes
References
- Lester, Patrick D. The Biographical Directory of Native American Painters. Norman and London: The Oklahoma University Press, 1995. ISBN 0806199369.
- Reno, Dawn. Contemporary Native American Artists. Brooklyn, NY: Alliance Publishing, 1995. ISBN 0-9641509-6-4.
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