August - Week 1

Written 05/08/2025, Updated 11/08/2025

Photo of Joan Hill

Who am I studying?

This month, I am studying a more recent artist - Joan Hill!

Short biography

Joan, also known as Che-se-quah (meaning 'Redbird' in Muscogee), was born in 1930 and was descended from both the Muscogee Creek and Cherokee nations. She grew up on a farm, that her family owned. She did not grow up very connected to her heritage, though not completely uninvolved either.

She was interested in art from a young age - she would draw on the walls (I can relate!) so her father had to buy her paper so she would draw on that instead XD

She attended Bacone College, which was a private liberal arts university in Oklahoma specifically for Native American students (it sadly filed for bankruptcy in 2024) where she studied fine art. She then transferred to Northeastern State University in Oklahoma (not specfically for Native Americans) and trained as a teacher. She taught for four years after graduating before she became a full time artist.

Her art REALLY varied, like some of her paintings are in a traditional 'Flatstyle' (also known as the 'Bacone style' since it was pioneered at Bacone College) - which was an artistic movement in Oklahoma of bridging trational tribal paintings with the Modernist movement of the early 20th century. She also did more dreamy looking watercolours, as well as oils on canvas.

Despite the odds, being both Native American and a woman, she became very succesful and renowned. She won almost 300 awards in her lifetime, from within her nation and globally. She was one of only 24 artists invited to China in 1978 after China lifted its ban on Western art.

She died on June 16, 2020 aged 89 - her family made an obituary page and it was nice reading some of the things people said about her :)

Why I chose her

A bit like last month, I wanted to have more diversity in my artist choice so I looked up Indigenous Female Artists and her name cropped up. A lot of her work is very mesmerising to look at, though I don't know where I'd start to be honest (that's for the next blog post anyway).

Examples of her work

I will say, despite how many resources I could find about her it was surprisingly difficult to get decent quality pictures of her work (I imagine a lot of her stuff isn't on the internet at all!) which was disappointing (so sorry for some grainy pictures)

Three Native American women collecting maize with a surreal background
Blessing the Harvest (Gathering Corn), 2008. It's interesting seeing the contrast of the flatstyle foreground and the surreal blended watercolours of the background.
Three Native American men wearing wings dancing. In the background are four figures in white and a pole with a fish stuck at the top
Spirit of the Suli Obanga (Buzzard Dance), 2007. The movement of the dancing is really flowy, it does reminds me of a bird! The figures in the backgrounds seem a little ghostly to me (not sure if that was the intention).
Trees with fluffy red or yellow leaves and long thin trunks on an orange background.
Butterfly Medicine Weed, 1972. This one is sooooo pretty! The way they are 'on top' of eachother and they are so fluffy! The colours are also so warm too, so it's very comforting to look at.
A stylized painting of a man facing the viewer in front of a black hillside. His black trousers and black coat blend in with the background and are not visible. He is wearing a wide-brimmed, high-crowned white hat, a black coat with a fur collar, a white shirt and two rows of conchos around his waist. A long white scarf is draped over his left arm, and he is holding a drumstick in his left hand. In his right hand, he is holding a drum, and he appears to be singing. The sky above the hill is red with a white moon on the left.
This one feels very... ominous. The limited colour palette and the fact that the figure is not totally discernable. I will say that I feel a little... weird about the skin also being red. Like in terms of the colour palette it works but the history of Native Americans being depicted (in a racist way) with red skin makes me (a white person, I will be clear) feel uncomfortable.
A group of Native American men discuss a potential war/conflict that may arise.
War and Rumors of Wars, 1973. This really does feel like a modernist style painting with the intentionally flat colours. I think the shape language in this one is really strong, the men are clearly discussing something.
Two Native American women sit, wrapped in shawls as the sun rises behind them. The scene is very yellow.
Morning in the Village, 1975. I love the sunrise in this one! The colours look so nice and warm. The faces being so detailed really help them stand out. Some of the details I am not quite sure about to be honest, but I think the *feeling* of sitting in the morning sunrise is well depicted.
A group of people gather to a pecan tree at night, to start picking it. The tree is a bright white, the figures are pink and the background is hazy and cloudy.
Pecan Picking Time, 1991. I think the watercolours in the background really look nice and work well to make it look like dark clouds. Again, the limited colour palette makes the colours that are there stand out imo and make it more striking.
A woman holds a bowl (an effigy bowl) carefully while walking in the wind. Her hair is blowing in front of her. The moon shines in the background. The background is a wash of pinks and purples
Effigy Bowl of the Sacred Fire, 1992. The background is GORGEOUS here, a dark pink night sky that also has some darker (and lighter) clouds and the slight orange elicited fire to me? The woman in this is beautiful, and the way her hair flows makes the scene feel more dynamic.

Links to more info about her