Mission Statement
The purpose of the Oscar Howe Memorial Association at The University of South Dakota is to preserve the artistic legacy of Oscar Howe as a major American artist through educational and creative projects which focus upon his contributions to Modern Art and to his native culture.
The Oscar Howe Association seeks to achieve its mission through:
- The acquisition of works of art by Oscar Howe;
- The maintenance of the Oscar Howe Gallery and Collection under the auspices of the University Art Galleries of The University of South Dakota;
- The maintenance and updating of the Oscar Howe Archives in the I. D. Weeks Library on The University of South Dakota campus;
- The support of educational projects including books, videos, films, and exhibitions on and by American Indian artists;
- The awarding of scholarships to promising American Indian high school artists to attend the annual Oscar Howe Summer Art Institute and;
- The awarding of grants to aid in career development of talented American Indian artists.
The Oscar Howe Memorial Lecture
This annual lecture was established in 1989 by the Oscar Howe Memorial Association at The University of South Dakota. Its purpose is to perpetuation Dr. Howe's message that American Indian art is a vital and contemporary cultural force in today's world. In this spirit, the Association has dedicated the annual lecture to issues relating to the American Indian Fine Arts Movement.
Former Oscar Howe Memorial lecturers include:
Frederic Dockstader, Ph.D.
Roland Force
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith
Mary Morez
Richard West, Jr.
Gerald R. McMaster
Richard W. Hill, Sr.
Linda Lomahaftewa
Colleen Cutschall
Bruce Bernstein, Ph.D.
Truman T. Lowe
W. Jackson Rushing, III
Rick Bartow
Marcus James Amerman
Ed Archie Noisecat
Arthur Amiotte
Joyce M. Szabo, Ph.D.
John D. Day
Bill Anthes, Ph.D.
The 2009 Oscar Howe Memorial Lecture
Kate Morris teaches art history at Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA. She teaches a variety of non-Western courses including "Arts of the Americas," "Native American Arts of California and the Pacific Northwest," and "Pre-Columbian Art." Morris holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University and a Master's degree from the University of New Mexico. From 2002-2004 she was a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University, where she studied Visual Culture and Gender Theory. Morris has published articles on contemporary Native American landscape painting and on the incorporation of written text in post-modern painting and installation. She is currently working on a book entitled "Picturing Sovereignty: Native American Art in the Postmodern Era.
