Blackbear bos in biography books
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His native name, which belonged to his paternal grandfather (a Kiowa chief), means Blackbear in English.
Young Blackbear Bosin attended a mission school in Oklahoma where he studied the collection of Kiowa and European art objects and dabbled in painting. The following year he travelled to Switzerland to receive honors after he was elected a Fellow of the International Institution of Arts and Letters.
Bosin was the only Native American artist to participate in the 1965 White House Festival of the Arts.
After winning the Victory Trophy from the Philbrook in 1967, he chose to stop entering art competitions because he felt it was time for younger artists to gain recognition.
His creative work continued. The documentary photographs and illustrations bring Blackbear and his work to life, and do the artist proud.”
– Anne Hillerman, the Santa Fe-based author of eight books, including Tony Hillerman’s Landscapes: On the Road with Chee and Leaphorn
By David Simmonds, Ph.D.
With an introduction by the late Jeanne Snodgrass King, former curator at the Philbrook Museum of Art and author of American Indian Painters: A Biographical Directory
Edited by Cynthia Mines
Published by Carriage Factory Art Gallery
All proceeds from book sales benefit the nonprofit Carriage Factory Art Gallery and the educational Blackbear Bosin Legacy Project.
ISBN 978-0-615-71592-6
Posted onNovember 27, 2012 by blackbear-bosin-admin
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31, 2022By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University
At the confluence of the Big and Little Arkansas Rivers in downtown Wichita stands a magnificent sculpture honoring the native American history of Kansas.
He went on to the Chilocco Indian Agricultural School where he trained to work with sheet metal and then moved to Wichita with his wife. In 1940, Bosin graduated from Cyril High School and moved to Wichita, Kansas that year.
Career
He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served during World World War World War II In Kansas, he worked as a color separator and plate maker for Western Lithograph and as an artist for Boeing.
In 2010, Margaret Williams Norton wrote a book about Blackbear Bosin that focuses on his The Keeper of the Plains sculpture that sits at the confluence of the Arkansas and Little Arkansas rivers in Wichita, Kansas. This iconic sculpture is known as the Keeper of the Plains. He later worked in the training aids and arts department at McConnell Air Force Base.
He designed the logos for the Mid-America Indian Center in Wichita and the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant which is located near the rural community of Burlington, population 2,764 people.
Education
He attended Saint Patrick"s Mission School in Anadarko and was exposed to the paintings of the Kiowa Five. It became the iconic structure known as Keeper of the Plains, placed near the rivers in downtown Wichita.
A City of Wichita website describes it as a sculpture “with hands raised in supplication to the Great Spirit.” After a restoration and river beautification project, the five-ton, 44 foot tall sculpture now stands elevated on a 30-foot rock promontory, surrounded by a plaza which describes the Plains Indian way of life.
Bosin was commissioned to create ten designs for the Franklin Mint for a series of sterling silver medals about Native American history. The coins depicted various historical events with one side of the coin featuring the “traditional view” and the other side of the coin featuring the “Indian interpretation” of those events.
We commend this Kansan for making a difference with creativity in art. Audio and text files of Kansas Profiles are available at http://www.kansasprofile.com. For more information about the Huck Boyd Institute, interested persons can visit http://www.huckboydinstitute.org.
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The mission of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development is to enhance rural development by helping rural people help themselves.
More than a standard biography, Keeper of the Indian Spirit captures a complex and fascinating legacy. A photo of Ron Wilson is available at http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/news/sty/RonWilson.htm. He was the only Native American artist to participate in the 1965 White House Festival of Arts.
Perhaps his most famous work is Wichita"s iconic The Keeper of the Plains, a 44-foot steel sculpture erected in 1974 at the confluence of the Arkansas and Little Arkansas rivers.
His art was so well regarded that the hospital hosted a one-man exhibition of his works before his discharge in 1945.
Having regained his health, he returned to Wichita where he became an industrial designer and product illustrator for Boeing. In 1977, the state of Kansas awarded Bosin the Distinguished Service Award.
Blackbear Bosin passed away in 1980, but his magnificent sculpture still stands on what is considered sacred ground in Wichita.