Fred Beaver
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Fred Beaver | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ekalanee July 2, 1911 Self-taught, Bacone College |
| Known for | Painting |
Fred Beaver (2 July 1911 – 18 August 1980) was a prominent
Background
Fred Beaver was born in Eufaula, Oklahoma. His Muscogee name was Ekalanee, meaning "Brown Head."[3] He was the son of Willie Beaver and Annie Johnson, was raised in Eufaula, and attended the Eufaula High School. He had become the All-State football and basketball star player. His grandfather was the sub-chief of the Okfuskee town in Alabama named Itshaus Micco, and had moved his town to where Eufaula is today.[4]
Before Beaver had attended grade school, he was not able to speak any English and became a self-taught artist throughout the years of school. Graduating from high school in 1931, Beaver went straight into college at Bacone College. Beaver was an important part of the early Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma. He had attended the Haskell Business College after graduating from Bacone in 1935.
Beaver really had no art training at Bacone while he was there and gave up his art career during the Great Depression and went to serve in World War II. Once he had returned to the United States, he picked up his art career again and had a great teacher and second cousin on his wife’s side of the family, named Acee Blue Eagle.
Art career
Soon after looking for help and thinking about going back to school for art, he entered the
Beaver has gone on to win many awards at the Philbrook’s annual competitions and has worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs for twenty-five years of his life. He was able to make a living off his artwork full-time and became more aware of the detail that was put into the paintings.
The Creek and Seminole artists were starting to question the work he was doing that represented the tribes' cultures. But his work is very accurate in the images, such as
Beaver designed three medallions for the
Quote
I wanted to change the non-Indian's image of my people, and I wanted to help my own people understand themselves, especially the young.[3]
Notes
- ^ ISBN 0-8061-9936-9.
- ^ King, Jeanne Snodgrass (1968). American Indian painters; a biographical directory. Smithsonian Libraries. New York : Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation.
- ^ ISBN 0-86659-013-7.
- ^ Fred Beaver (1911 - 1980). AskArt. (retrieved 22 April 2009)
External links
- Southeastern Indian Oral History Project
- brief bio
- Multiple hits in this history of Native American art
- Large mural
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