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BROOKINGS, S.D.—An exhibit combining Oscar Howe’s paintings of Native American tribal life and an array of porcupine quillwork-decorated tribal clothing, ceremonial and utilitarian objects, is on display at the South Dakota Art Museum on the South Dakota State University campus.

“The Oscar Howe Collection and Native American Quillwork” will be on display until Dec. 28, 2003.

The paintings are from the Museum’s permanent collection. The exhibit also displays “Buffalo Hunt,” “Victory Dance” and other donated pieces.

Howe’s colorful, Modernist portrayals of Native American tribal life earned him recognition as one of the country’s leading Native American artists, a leader of the Modernist movement and one of South Dakota’s most celebrated artists.

Howe was born in 1915 on the Crow Creek Reservation in central South Dakota. A Yanktonai who spoke only Lakota until he reached school age, Howe faced several challenges that influenced his art, including abusive boarding schools, tuberculosis and a debilitating skin disorder accompanied by an eye disease that nearly left him blind.

Howe developed as a painter with encouragement from Dorothy Dunn, one of his teachers at Santa Fe Indian School in New Mexico. He returned to South Dakota to eventually become a professor of art and artist-in-residence at the University of South Dakota.

He died in 1983.

The quillwork on display also comes from the Museum’s permanent collection, as well as the Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre, SD and the personal collection of Larry Ness from Yankton, SD. The exhibit includes several knife sheaths, gloves, purses, tipi ornaments, moccasins, a breastplate, baby carrier and other pieces, most dating from 1880-1900.

Dyed porcupine quills were often used to adorn Native American regalia and objects before Europeans introduced colored beads around 1800. After that, the craft became obsolete, and only a few Sioux, Cree and Ojibway families carry on the tradition today.

Quillworking involves stitching porcupine quills onto the surface of animal hide. Tribal women used awls made from sharpened bones or antlers to pierce the holes for the thread, usually made from deer, moose, elk or buffalo sinew (or tendons).

The quills are brightly dyed, but since the introduction of aniline dyes by white traders at the turn of the century, many of the natural dye formulas have since been lost.

The exhibit includes a 10-minute video “Lakota Quillwork, Art and Legend” produced by H. Jane Newman, and several diagrams detailing quillwork techniques.

Admittance is free to the South Dakota Art Museum, located on Medary Avenue at Harvey Dunn Street on the SDSU campus in Brookings. The Museum is closed holidays and open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 4 p.m. Sundays.

South Dakota Arts Council support is provided with funds from the State of South Dakota, through the Department of Education and Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts.