Curator-artist expresses ideas through sculpture

Where do you look for the essence of a person? The outward appearance? Communication style? Philosophical bent?

In the case of sculptor Truman Lowe, a crucial clue lies in his Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) background, specifically in his immediate family.

“Each clan has a special responsibility in the larger community,” he says. “I’m a member of the Thunderbird clan. Ours is a helping clan. We’re supposed to see needs and fill them.”

Service always has been the foundation of Lowe’s life, whether in his home community near Black River Falls, in his 24 years on the faculty at the university or as he begins a year as curator of contemporary art at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

In person Lowe is a model of elegant understatement. His signature soft-spoken restraint and modesty belie Lowe’s international reputation as a master sculptor whose work effectively bridges the traditional and contemporary, abstract and representational worlds of American Indian fine art.

“He never tells you more than you need to know, either in his work or when you talk to him. It’s absolutely amazing,” says Jennifer Complo McNutt, curator of contemporary art at the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis. In November the Eiteljorg awarded Lowe one of its $20,000 inaugural fellowships in recognition of his contributions to American Indian fine art. The Eiteljorg fellowship is one of the most recent honors in a career rife with accolades. For example, Lowe’s installation “Effigy: Bird Mound” spent 1998 in the Jacqueline Kennedy Sculpture Garden at the White House. He also has exhibited in museums and galleries in New York, Europe, Canada, New Zealand, South America and Africa, as well as Wisconsin and other areas of the country.

Quite possibly Lowe inherited his artistic talent from his parents, who specialized in basketry.

“My father understood woods – he made the best basket handles, and other basket makers in the community would come to him for handles. My mother was a colorist. Her forte was color design. Women who were dying black ash wood for baskets would ask my mother which color combinations should be used,” he says.

Many of the motifs Lowe remembers from his childhood now find their way into his art, frequently rendered as abstractions, according to Complo McNutt.

“Slender strips of pine cascade over a boxed frame to create his ‘Waterfall.’ Lining a skeletal canoe frame with feathers evokes the movement of a boat navigating the space between sky and water in ‘Feather Canoe,'” she says.

“Truman is the quintessential sculptor. He really knows how to shape space with his art,” observes art historian Jo Ortel.

Ortel currently is writing a book about Lowe and his pivotal place in the American artistic firmament. She met him in 1996 while teaching in the UW–Madison Department of Art.

“I was struck instantly by his work,” she says. “When I got to know him, I also was impressed with how articulate he is. The Smithsonian is so lucky to have him – his appointment will bring tremendous visibility to American Indian fine art.”

Museum director W. Richard West agrees wholeheartedly. West says the fact that Lowe is both a practicing artist and a scholar will add depth and dimension to the curatorial post, especially as the museum develops its permanent collection.

“The addition of Truman to our staff is a significant step in the development of the museum’s contemporary and fine arts programs – essential components to the mission of the museum,” says West.

True to his clan’s service calling, Lowe also feels a great responsibility to younger artists, according to Complo McNutt of the Eiteljorg.

“He’s one of the second generation of fine artists of American Indian descent, so he’s an heir to older artists like George Morrison, while also in a position to be a mentor to younger artists like Joe Fedderson and Bentley Spang,” both graduates of UW–Madison, she says.

A primary source of people to be mentored are found in Lowe’s UW–Madison sculpture classes, according to Laurie Beth Clark, professor of art and current chair of the department.

“He is a dedicated teacher and committed mentor who has given special attention to the recruitment and retention of Native American students,” she says.

In fall 1999 Lowe taught about 60 students, ranging from freshmen to graduate level. Maggie Svetich, a junior majoring in biology, took a beginning class. It was her first art course, and she says it was a revelation.

“Sometimes the work got so frustrating – I had a picture in my head of what I wanted the finished piece to look like, and I wanted to hold to that,” she says. “But Truman encouraged me to just let the work evolve. He got me to explore the possibilities of the piece. Now I’m more open to new ideas and experiences.”

Students like Svetich return the favor by enhancing his own artistic perspectives, Lowe says.

“They make ideas new; they’re very enthusiastic about new artistic and intellectual terrain,” he says. “When I was about to graduate from college myself, somebody asked me what I wanted to do. I said, ‘I want to go where ideas are new every day.’ I’ve been fortunate enough to find that place at the university.”

The year Lowe will spend away from campus at the Smithsonian will provide him with fresh opportunities to introduce an entire world to American Indian cultures. He says the visual arts, both traditional and contemporary, are more than examples of visceral beauty and interest, and he is eager to exploit their potential.

“Art is a language,” he says. “It reflects thoughts, ideas, philosophies and even projections into the future. Art captures the way we are thinking about who we are at a given moment.”