Blue Bull
2016
Rapid City, South Dakota
Dwayne “Chuck” Wilcox is an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota and a lifelong producer of art. Chuck was born in Kadoka, South Dakota, attended Crazy Horse High School, and served in the military for four years. While he has no formal art training, Chuck had his first commissioned art piece in 1974, which eventually lead to a full-time career. Chuck’s chosen medium is ledger paper, the first paper to make its way to the American Great Plains in the 19th century. He uses this medium to convey a living culture through humor, dance, or vices of the modern times. Chuck’s goal is to share a continuing view of how natives see the European culture and to reverse the paradigm. His work has been exhibited at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York City; Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK; Red Cloud Heritage Museum, Rine Ridge, SD; Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA; the University of Alaska, Anchorage; among many other venues.
Painters & Sculptors Grant, 2017
I use the visual language of the Great Plains people to continue the story of my culture, bringing to life the impact of modern life styles, and how that is woven into the Native world... I think that my art has reached viewers who understand that even though we live in America, we have struggled with our past experience with this outside culture and truly endure a different value of materialism.”