Virtual Art Tour

Allan Houser, Native American, 1914 - 1994

Offering to the Great Spirit

Allan Houser, a Chiricahua Apache, is critically acknowledged as the "patriarch of American Indian sculptors." "I work not just for myself, but to honor the American Indian," the artist once stated. "I hope to draw attention to centuries-old Indian values, especially concepts of living in harmony with nature that can benefit all people." His father, Sam Haozous, was a member of the Chiricahua Apache band that surrendered with Geronimo in 1886. During their years of incarceration, first in Florida and later at Fort Sill, Okla., his father served as Geronimo's translator. His mother was born while her parents were captives at a military post in Alabama. Houser, born on his parents farm near the tiny town of Apache, Okla., was the first Chiricahua child born in freedom.

Houser studied at the Santa Fe Indian School and the Fort Sill Indian School in Anadarko. He has been an artist-in-residence, teacher and a sculpture department head at the Inter-Mountain School in Brigham City, Utah, the Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe Indian School and at Dartmouth College.

His work has been in exhibitions world-wide and among the many honors and awards bestowed upon him were the American Indian Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the American Indian Resources Institute, Washington, D.C. and the National Medal of Arts presented by former President George Bush, the first such award given to a Native American.