Chief Spotted Elk

Spotted Elk aka "Chief Big Foot" by the US soldiers . Skillful diplomat ,Great leader , Good warrior but remembered the most by his death in 1890.  The name  Chief Bigfoot  came from to some oversized boots he wore which he got  at Ft. Bennett  .  He was the leader of the Mniconjou people who were killed here in the massacre of Wounded Knee.    After he was killed George Trager photographed him and labeled it  Chief Bigfoot and the name stuck . He is buried in the mass grave at Wounded Knee .  His group was headed to a Ghost Dance The Calvary stopped them and Chief Spotted Elk met with them under a white flag then the Calvary wanted disarm everyone  Chief Spotted Elk agreed  then during the disarming everyone and a shot rang out .  The rest is sad history.

Graphite on 11 x 17 Stonehenge warm white paper .

Sitting Bull

Sitting Bull is next in my series of famous,notable  and important Native Americans .

Sitting Bulls, Indian name was  Tatanka Iyotake.  Sitting Bull was born  into the Hunkpapa of the Teton Sioux.1830 -1831, in the Dakota Territory in the blackhills and died on December 15, 1890, on the Grand River in South Dakota

He was a  Teton Dakota Indian chief  and Holy man who united  the Sioux tribes  in their struggle for survival . He held a lifelong distrust of white men and  stubbornly determination to resist their domination. Sitting Bull joined his first war party at age 14 and soon gained a reputation for fearlessness in battle. He fought many battles beat George Custer but in the end he was forced to surrender. 

There was a Ghost Dance Movement  that started in the southwest spread to the Black hills  . Sitting Bull allowed this religious movement in his area. This Ghost Dance Movement  worried the Calvary BIA agents. They sent lawmen to arrest Sitting Bull in hopes of preventing an uprising . When Sitting Bull was about to be arrested braves loyal to Sitting Bull protested a fight ensued . Strange as it seems  Sitting Bull Died by the hands of a natives of his own tribe who were working for the government..

Now back to my art. I felt most  references showed Sitting Bull as a Defiant adversary to the white man and his world.  I softened the expression to what I would expect if he was addressing his tribe or family.  For some reason my lighting was off when photographing this on just a tad dark on the top and lower right .

This is graphite on 10 X 15 warm white Stonehenge paper 100% cotton.   Hope you enjoy looking at it I enjoyed doing it.

Geronimo " one who yawns "

 Geronimo  " one who yawns " was my next  endeavor . Him being a legend it was a must for me to draw him. Loved, feared, and hated he fought a long hard battle against the Calvary .  His tenacity in his war deserves respect.

The use of the name while jumping out of a plane or a charge came from his exploits like rushing a group of men armed with guns while only carrying a knife and winning.

The next 2 paragraphs are not my writing but from the linked web site.

Geronimo was the leader of the last American Indian fighting force formally to capitulate to the United States. Because he fought against such daunting odds and held out the longest, he became the most famous Apache of all. To the pioneers and settlers of Arizona and New Mexico, he was a bloody-handed murderer and this image endured until the second half of this century.


To the Apaches, Geronimo embodied the very essence of the Apache values, aggressiveness, courage in the face of difficulty. These qualities inspired fear in the settlers of Arizona and New Mexico. The Chiricahuas were mostly migratory following the seasons, hunting and farming. When food was scarce, it was the custom to raid neighboring tribes. Raids and vengeance were an honorable way of life among the tribes of this region.

 http://www.indians.org/welker/geronimo.htm

He surrendered hoping to return to his homeland he spent time in a Florida prison  and in Oklahoma but never was able to return to his homeland .  


But what is not written about  by many narratives is his war for freedom and vengeance started with Mexico . His Mother, wife and 3 children were killed by Mexican troops . This  transformed  a trader into a warrior over night.

Villain or Hero its your decision.

This is a composite drawing of him. the headdress is from one old photo of him but younger and his likeness from another when he was old. The expression I really liked  but he was wearing a bolder hat and suit just didn't suit me for this.

This is graphite and charcoal  on 11X15 Stonehenge paper 100% cotton  the color is kraft.

 

Chief Joseph

Chief Joseph a translation of his real name is "Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain". He was considered as a  great Chief of the Nez Perce  tribe during a tough time at war with the US and forced from their ancestral homelands . 

 I used several old photos as reference for this. His face from one and the headdress is stylized from another picture. I looked at other photos to of  Chief Joseph to help me make a work of  art that I was happy with.

 

 While I was drawing and shading each feather I started thinking and remembering that many tribes at puberty a male child under goes a rite of passage to prove he is a man.  When passing the trials he gets to wear a feather.  Every notable even of heroism or feat of skill or strength was quite literally a feather in his cap.  Just like our soldiers of today with their chest full of shining buttons and pins and medals  . These headdresses were a display of  heroism not just prettys .  

Was this feather for victory in unarmed combat , a successful raid , a touche of a armed rivals and not being hurt, or stealing cavalry horses as the calvary slept or was this one from his rights of passage so long ago.  Thats some of the thoughts that travels threw my mind while I was doing this one.

 

 

 

I plan on mat and framing this one might crop it a bit but here is a what it might look like .

This was done in graphite of various degrees of hardness . It is 12 X 15  on Stonehenge paper  a 90 lbs paper 100% cotton it will last centuries if taken care of .

Thank You for looking