Friday, November 23, 2012

Arty Farty Black Friday ~ Native American Artist Blackbear Bosin

On this "Black Friday", a look at an artist unrelated to the day except (partly) by name: artist and sculptor Blackbear Bosin.
From Native Arts of America.com
Blackbear Bosin, the renowned Kiowa/Comanche artist, was born on June 5, 1921 near Anadarko, Oklahoma. He was the eldest son of Frank Blackbear Bosin & Ada Tivis (a beadworker). His maternal grand mother Kahchatscha was a Comanche Awl Band medicine woman. At 17, Blackbear helped his father run the family farm. After graduating from Cyril (OK) High school in 1940, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps during world war II. Due to family obligations, Blackbear was unable to accept two university art scholarships. painting in his spare time, Blackbear achieved success with little formal training.

Blackbear made his home in Wichita, Kansas. He worked as a color separator & platemaker, illustrator, commercial artist, gallery owner, sculptor & painter, and was featured in numerous publications, and won many awards.

At the confluence of the Arkansas and Little Arkansas rivers in Wichita, Kansas stands "Keeper of the Plains", a dramatic 44-foot tall steel sculpture of an American Indian, donated to the city by its creator, Francis (Blackbear) Bosin.



From Kansapedia
Although the "Keeper of the Plains" undoubtedly is his most widely recognized work, Bosin expressed himself primarily through his paintings. He was almost entirely self-taught, and his early paintings were strictly representational depictions of Indian life. Over the years, however, his work became increasingly complex and the subject matter more profound. A spirit of Indian mysticism deeply influenced his work, and he eventually became internationally recognized for his vivid watercolors and acrylics.

By the time of his death in 1980 at the age of 59, the inventiveness and imagination reflected in his paintings had earned Blackbear Bosin a prominent place among American artists.

I have no time of birth for Blackbear Bosin, the chart is set for 12 noon on the date of his birth. A brief look, only for factors relating to his art style. Whatever his birth time Sun, Moon and Mars were all in communcative and versatile Gemini, with Venus, planet of the arts in Taurus, coming through clear and unadulterated from its home sign. Venus forms harmonious sextile aspect to the conjunction of Mercury and Pluto in sensitive Cancer reflecting both power and delicacy in the way he expressed himself through his art. Venus also sextiles Uranus in Pisces - the "inventiveness and imagination" highlighted in the quoted text above. In addition Sun sextiles Neptune (creativity).


Examples of his work:

Prairie Fire





Buffalo Hunt




They Moved Without Him




The Owl's Telling





Blackbear Bosin incorporated Native American symbolism and mythology into his design for this logo. "Dust flies and the earth trembles as man and nature collide in America's quest for energy. Here, man is building a nuclear power plant."
--Fort Scott Tribune, May 21, 1977. The Wolf Creek Generating Station logo is a synthesis of man and nature. Its Native American designer used symbolism and mythology to link nuclear technology to the Kansas landscape.



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6 comments:

mike said...

I certainly like his paintings. His sculpture, Keeper of the Plains, is excellent...maybe I'll see it in person some day...I'm always partial to flames and dramatic sculptures, specially when surrounded by reflective water...draws me in like a moth.

Life on Earth seems to be all about change, so I suppose it was inevitable that Native Americans would get the boot from their own homeland. Ironic that all of these years later, the descendents of the "invaders" so dislike the new invaders!

I read your side-article link, "Israel's Gaza Rampage". J.Pilger is obviously pro-Palestine, which I have no problem with, but I believe he pushes his points a bit too extremely. Obama is handling Israel in a fashion that is not nearly as openly supportive as Bush's presidency was and much of the weaponry used by Israel was obtained under Bush's era. Romney was definitely aligning his potential presidency toward increased support of Israel. Obama took some heat for not meeting with and being more inclusive of Netanyahu's interests.

Something Pilger doesn't mention is Iran's support of Hamas by supplying much of the artillery being using in the counter-airstrikes against Israel. I suspect it would be hard to determine exact ownership of drones flying around the Middle East anymore...all sides have accused others of "droning" each others' country. This is a different game this time around, particularly with the introduction of Hamas' leadership in Palestine.

Twilight said...

mike ~ Strangely, we haven't seen the Keeper of the Plains sculpture either - yet we've visited Wichita KS several times, husband knows it well, a Kansan by birth. I like the fact that in situ, as in the photograph, the 4 elements are represented- Air/Fire/Water/Earth.
:-)

Yes, I guess, horrific as the Native American genocide was - eventual result of the arrival of first invaders - it sadly followed a pattern humans unfortunately seem to have ingrained in their DNA.
Sometimes it results in enslavement of "the other", sometimes genocide. There's a distinct rottenness somewhere in our DNA - perhaps as a result of our particular place in the solar system, and its particular place in the universe.
People: "Why can't we all get along?"
God/Creator of choice: "Sorry, racially, as humans, it just ain't in your DNA...Deal with it."

I added the sidebar link to John Pilger's piece because he's one journalist I do trust. I felt that as it was an important news item it ought to have a showing, along with my other bits in the sidebar.

I guess it's almost impossible to write about the Israel/Palestine conflict without taking sides, that's why I won't attempt to waffle on the topic - never have, never will. It's a fool's errand. The two factions will never agree, it may not be exactly 6 of one and half a dozen of the other - but it's not far removed from that.
The whole thing has been going on since just after the end of World War 2, even longer truth be told. As in conflicts between Catholic/Protestant, Democrat/Republican and others, solutions will remain elusive absent opened minds - and opened minds are simply not going to happen....no way, no how. I'm glad there's at least a truce, for now. Long may it last.



Wisewebwoman said...

Thanks for the intro to this wonderful artist. As to the Israel-Palestine conflict, far too complex for any of us to jump into. Pilger is one of my journalist heroes too, T.
XO
WWW

Twilight said...

Wisewebwoman ~~ Yes - too complex for me, for sure.

Glad you enjoyed seeing his work, WWW.

Anonymous said...

It's called Artsy Fartsy
, not Arty Farty lol.

Twilight said...

Anonymous ~ In England, where I was born and lived for over 60 years, it's Arty Farty - and as far as I'm concerned that's the way it'll stay.
We said it first! ;-)