Clara Archilta
Clara Archilta | |
|---|---|
 Kiowa Apache Black Feet Dance (1959) by Cara Archilta shows Manatidie dancers in an older version of the Plains Apache's Blackfeet Social dance | |
| Born | Clara Williams September 26, 1912 |
| Died | September 30, 1994 (aged 82) |
| Resting place | Memory Lane Cemetery.[1] |
| Nationality | Kiowa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma, American |
| Education | Chilocco Indian School,[2] |
| Movement | Southern Plains Flatstyle |
| Spouse | Ward Archilta |
Clara Williams Archilta (September 26, 1912–30 September 1994), was a Kiowa/Apache/Tonkawa painter and beadworker from Oklahoma.[2] A self-taught artist with no formal art training,[3] Archilta is known for her watercolor painting and her pictorial beadwork.[4]
Personal life
[edit]Clara Williams was born in Tonkawa, Oklahoma. Her parents were David Williams (Tonkawa) and Helen Tseeltsesah-Sunrise (Kiowa/Apache). Clara attended Boone School in Apache, Oklahoma, followed by two years at the U.S. Chilocco Indian School,[2] through the eighth grade. She married Ward Archilta and had six children between 1930 and 1949.[2][1]
Art career
[edit]Her husband died in 1956, and Archilta began to paint the following year as a means to support her family. Despite a severely injured arm, she soon began to sell her work and make a name for herself.[2][5] She was the first woman to exhibit a collection of paintings at the American Indian Exposition (Anadarko, Oklahoma).[5] She also exhibited work at the Philbrook Museum of Art. Her work has been in the collection of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Anadarko.[2]
Archilta was also the head woman dancer for the Apache Blackfeet Society.[1] In the late 1950s, she painted a rare version of the Kiowa-Apache Blackfeet Dance. In the painting, the Manatidie dancers are depicted in an earlier version of the dance which was no longer performed after the early 20th century.[6]
Death
[edit]She died in 1994 at the age of 82 in Apache, Oklahoma. Her funeral was held at the Apache Tribal Complex in Anadarko. She was buried at Memory Lane Cemetery.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d "Clara Williams Archilta (obituary)". USGENWEB. Caddo County, Oklahoma. 1994-09-30. Archived from the original on 2021-07-31.
- ^ a b c d e f King, Jeanne Snodgrass (1968). American Indian painters; a biographical directory. Smithsonian Libraries. New York: Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. p. 6.
- ^ Reno, Dawn E. (1995). Contemporary Native American Artists. Alliance Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9641509-6-6.
- ^ "Clara Archilta". Heard Museum. Billie Jane Baguley Library and Archives: Billie Jane Baguley Library and Archives. Retrieved 2021-07-31 – via Native American Artists Resource Collection Online.
- ^ a b "Arts, Crafts Exhibit Important Feature Of Indian Exposition". Anadarko Daily News. 1957-08-18. p. 1. Retrieved 2021-07-31 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Contemporary Southern Plains Indian painting. Anadarko: Oklahoma Indian Arts and Crafts Cooperative. 1972 – via Internet Archive.
| Authority control databases: Artists |
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- 1912 births
- 1994 deaths
- 20th-century Native American artists
- 20th-century American women painters
- 20th-century American painters
- 20th-century indigenous painters of the Americas
- Kiowa women artists
- Apache people
- Tonkawa people
- Native American women painters
- Native American painters
- Native American beadworkers
- American beadworkers
- Painters from Oklahoma
- Native American people from Oklahoma
- Women beadworkers
- People from Kay County, Oklahoma
- People from Caddo County, Oklahoma
- Kiowa painters