"Contemporary Art Warriors" Comes to Komechak Art Gallery

Komechak Art Gallery welcomes in 2017 with an exhibition of Native American artists and also Native American veteran artists from the Trickster Gallery of Schaumburg, Illinois. Joseph Podlasek, CEO and owner of Trickster coordinated the exhibit which features 20 works by eight nationally recognized artists. This article will give you some information about the artists participating in the exhibit. The show runs January 17 through February 28. A reception for the public and the artists will take place at Komechak Art Gallery on Wednesday, January 25th, from 3:00 - 6:00 p.m. Admission is Free. Refreshments will be served.

Jimmy “Two-Dogs” Coplin(1958-2015) His given name was James Andrew Rokita; later in life, Jimmy changed his name to honor his Native American heritage, after learning his father was a member of the Kiowa Tribe. In his early years, Jimmy lived many places around the country because his step-father was in the U.S. Air Force. At age 21, Jimmy joined the United States Army, serving as an infantryman. He went on to a successful career as a transmission mechanic.Jimmy eventually lost his eyesight to diabetes, but that did not stop him from establishing a second career as a renowned Native American artist who specialized in creating artwork with ceramics, silver, feathers and arrows. After living in Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico and Texas, Jimmy moved to Chicago in an effort to gain more exposure for his art. His work was well-received, and his pieces were featured in exhibits at Trickster Art Gallery, Field Museum, and Chicago Cultural Alliance, and some exhibits still traveling with pictures of his art. Jimmy would often be seen around Chicago and the suburbs with his beloved guide dog and companion, Andy, an energetic German shepherd. Jimmy worked at Edward A Hines Jr. VA Hospital, training medical personnel about Native American cultural traditions. He was also an active member of the Native Veterans of Illinois at Trickster Art Gallery.

Bunky Echo Hawk Echo Hawk is a member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, and an enrolled member of the Yakama Nation. He attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in the 1990s. He served as the "co-founder and the Executive Director of NVision, a national Native nonprofit that focuses on Native youth development," and he is also a traditional singer and dancer.

Brent Learned Learned is an award winning and collected Native American artist who was born and reared in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. Brent graduated from the University of Kansas with a bachelor degree in Fine Arts.He is an artist who draws, paints and sculpts the Native American Indian in a rustic impressionistic style. He has always appreciated the heritage and culture of the American Plains Indian. He tries to create artwork to capture the essence, accuracy and historic authenticity of the American Plains Indian way of life. Although Brent has many different styles, he is typically known for his use of bold vibrant colors in his depictions of the American Plains Indian. Brent’s work resides in museums such as the Smithsonian Institute-National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C., the Cheyenne/Arapaho Museum in Clinton, Oklahoma, the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City and the University of Kansas Art Museum in Lawrence, Kansas. He has work in private collections such as the Governor of Oklahoma Private Collection, Governor’s Mansion in Oklahoma City, the Haskell Indian University in Lawrence, Kansas and the Kerr Foundation Private Collection in Oklahoma City. Brent also has the honor of having one of his paintings displayed in the Democratic National Headquarters in Washington D.C.

George C. Levi Levi is a member of the Southern Cheyenne Tribe of Oklahoma. He is also Southern Arapaho and Oglala Lakota. He was raised in the Western Oklahoma Communities of El Reno, Concho and Geary. The art and history of the Cheyenne people motivate him in his art. He is influenced by the Cheyenne and Arapaho artists of the past. He specializes in Cheyenne style ledger art, and also acrylic and watercolor paintings. He is also well known for his custom beadwork and parfleche work. His artwork is well known and can be found in various museums, art exhibits, galleries, and private collections in the United States and around the world.

Ramos Sanchez Sanchez’s life has taken him from Ildefonso Pueblo to Okinawa, Japan, and back again. He joined the Navy in 1944 at the age of 18 and served during World War II. Later in life Sanchez served at the vice chairman of the All Indian Pueblo Council and began work on various educational boards including the Eight Northern Pueblos’ Council where he helped to recruit minority students into higher education. He retired in 1994 and now spends most of his time producing traditional watercolor paintings under his other name: Oqwa Owin. Horses, wildlife, clowns and dancers are some of the World War II veteran’s favorite subjects. “I’ve been painting my whole life,” Sanchez said. “I could fill a museum.

Robert Wapahi Wapahi’s scratch board drawings reflect his Dakota/Santee heritage. Originally dreaming of a career in music, Wapahi stumbled into the visual art world at the age of thirty-eight, when he received a huge amount of paper and technical pens. At first, he wadded up the large sheets of paper and practiced his jump shots. Then he found the pens, and those few days of scribbling went by so fast that he was hooked. It was easier to carry a pen and paper than a piano or a set of percussion instruments, and for Wapahi that worked out fine. He quickly discovered a talent for drawing and soon found a reason to draw while on a visit to Chicago and the American Indian Center. Since then, he has spent nearly twenty winters creating his art. For eleven winters, he decorated the American Indian Center’s one hundred room building. For the first half of Wapahi’s life, music was his love and it was rare to see him without a pair of drum sticks. For the last half of his life, he expects to carry a small sketchbook and pen.

Joe Yazzie Yazzie is a full-blooded Navajo, born and raised two miles from the Pinedale Trading Post in New Mexico. His parents were both artistic, my mother sculpted with clay and also did weaving. His father was a silversmith and also worked and traveled with the railroad to make a living. He came to Chicago in 1964 on the relocation program and attended and graduated from the Institute of Lettering and Design. After graduating, he decided to serve his country and joined the Army and completed a two year tour of duty in Vietnam and was awarded two Bronze Stars. Upon returning from Vietnam in November 1967, Yazzie decided to go back home to New Mexico, but as he passed the Montgomery Ward building in Chicago, he applied for a job as a commercial artist where he worked for nearly 25 years. Yazzie took art classes at the American Academy of Art in Chicago. Since then he has worked as a Graphic Designer for the Daily Herald Newspaper in Arlington Heights. A lot of his ideas are from what he dreams about the Indian people of the southwest...the Navajos, and some Apaches. His artwork is now displayed at several Chicago art galleries downtown and in the Northwest Suburb area, including at the Trickster Gallery in Schaumburg, IL. His work can be seen at www.yazziegallery.com.