The Oscar Howe Project

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Oscar Howe (Mazuha Hokshina , May 13, 1915 – October 7, 1983,) a Yanktonai Dakota, is a celebrated South Dakota artist who widely influenced contemporary Native American art. Howe grew up on the Crow Creek Sioux Reservation, received a B.A. from Dakota Wesleyan University in 1952 and an M.F.A. from the University of Oklahoma in 1954. Howe was South Dakota’s Artist Laureate in 1960, and professor of art at the University of South Dakota from 1957 to 1983.

The Oscar Howe paintings, Iktomi and Heyoka Dancer, were given to the Performing Arts Center of Rapid City in 2014 by the Lee family in honor of Evelyn Dawson Park Lee and Margaret Lee. Evelyn was the drama teacher at Rapid City High School in the 1950s and 1960s. Margaret was a friend and supporter of Oscar Howe. She and Dr. Warren M. (Doc) Lee cofounded the Black Hills Playhouse in Custer, South Dakota in 1946.