Kay WalkingStick facts for kids

Kay WalkingStick (born March 2, 1935) is a famous Native American artist. She is a member of the Cherokee Nation. She is known for her beautiful landscape paintings. These paintings often use oil paint on wood panels. She also adds patterns inspired by Native American rugs and pottery.

Kay WalkingStick's art is displayed in many important museums. These include the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. She also taught painting and drawing at Cornell University. She has won many awards for her art. In 1995, her work was even included in a major art history textbook.

About Kay WalkingStick's Life

Kay WalkingStick was born in Syracuse, New York, on March 2, 1935. Her father, Ralph, was a member of the Cherokee Nation. He could speak and write the Cherokee language. Her mother, Emma, was of Scottish-Irish heritage.

Kay grew up in New York. She did not experience much of her Cherokee culture as a child. But her family was very proud of their Native American roots. Kay loved to draw and color from a young age.

She married R. Michael Echols in 1959. They had two children, Michael and Erica. Michael passed away in 1989. Later, Kay married fellow artist Dirk Bach in 2013. They live in Easton, Pennsylvania.

Kay WalkingStick's Education and Training

Kay WalkingStick studied art at Beaver College. She earned her first art degree in 1959. Ten years later, she went to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. She earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in 1975.

She also spent time at special places for artists. These places are called artist residencies. They give artists quiet time to focus on their work. She visited places like the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire. She also painted in Italy. In 2011, she received an honorary degree from Arcadia University.

Her Artistic Journey

Becoming an Artist

Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce was the subject of her "Chief Joseph" series.

After college, Kay WalkingStick made realistic art. But in the early 1970s, her art became more abstract. Abstract art uses shapes, colors, and forms instead of real objects. Her work was shown in many New York City art shows. This was special because Native American artists were not often shown then.

During this time, she started learning more about Native American art and history. She wanted to understand her "Indianness." She began a series of paintings about Chief Joseph. He was a 19th-century leader of the Nez Perce people. He bravely resisted being forced onto a reservation.

Kay used a special technique for these works. She layered wax and acrylic paint on canvas. Then she cut away parts of the wax to create designs. She would add paint with her hands or a knife.

In 1974, she created a piece called Messages to Papa. It was a way for her to understand her feelings about her father. The artwork showed a tipi, which is a Native American dwelling. Even though it's not a Cherokee structure, she used it as a symbol for Native Americans. Inside the artwork, she included a letter to her father. She also put a Cherokee language translation of the Lord's Prayer.

Messages To Papa 1974 detail by Kay WalkingStick

[[File:Kay WalkingStick, Wallowa Mountains Memory, Variations, 2004.jpg|thumb|Kay WalkingStick, Wallowa Mountains Memory, Variations, oil and gold leaf on wood, 35 3/4 x 71 1/2 in, 2004, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Kay WalkingStick is very well known for her diptychs. A diptych is a work of art made of two panels. She often paints an abstract image on one panel. On the other panel, she paints a realistic landscape. She said that diptychs are great for showing how different things can come together. This is especially true for people who have mixed backgrounds, like her.

She has painted landscapes of the Rocky Mountains and the Alps. She also painted ancient sites in the Southwestern United States, like Mesa Verde. Kay says her paintings are not just landscapes. They show two ways of seeing the Earth. One way is what you see with your eyes. The other is a deeper, more lasting, abstract view.

After her husband passed away in 1989, she started painting waterfalls. One painting, Abyss, shows blood-red water. She said these waterfall paintings represent the flow of time. They also show the unstoppable journey of our lives.

Her 1991 landscape, Where Are the Generations?, shows the rugged Southwest. It looks empty, which represents the impact European settlers had on Native Americans. The artwork includes words in copper. They say: "In 1492 we were 20 million. Now we are 2 million. Where are the children? Where are the generations? Never born."

In 2004, she painted Wallowa Mountains Memory, Variations. This painting shows the Wallowa Mountains. This was the homeland of the Nez Perce people before they were moved. The painting has a gold leaf sky. One side shows purple mountains with a Nez Perce corn husk bag design. The other side has gray and white mountains. This painting is now in the Metropolitan Museum in New York City.

Teaching Art

In 1988, Kay WalkingStick became an art professor at Cornell University. She taught there until 2005, when she retired. She then moved to New York City to focus on her art full-time. She is now a Professor Emerita of Cornell University. This means she is a retired professor who still holds her title.

Awards and Recognition

Kay WalkingStick has received many important awards for her art:

• 1983 - National Endowment of the Arts grant
• 1995 - Joan Mitchell Foundation award
• 1996 - National Honor award for Achievement in the Arts, Women's Caucus for Art
• 2003 - Distinguished Artist Award from the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art. She was the first woman to win this award!
• 2011 - Lee Krasner award for lifetime achievement, from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation

Her Artworks and Exhibitions

Important Artworks

• Message to Papa, 1974
• Chief Joseph series
• Abyss, 1989
• Where are the Generations?, 1991
• Gioioso Variation I, diptych, 2001
• Wallowa Mountains Memory, Variations, painting on wood, 2004

Art Exhibitions

Kay WalkingStick's art has been shown all over the world. Her works have been in many solo and group exhibitions. Some places her art has been shown include the National Museum of the American Indian and the National Gallery of Canada.

In 2008, her exhibition "American Abstraction: Dialogue with the Cosmos" honored Native American women. It featured parfleche bags. These bags were traditionally used by Native Americans to store items. Her bags had landscape designs and abstract patterns from tribes like the Nez Perce.

A big exhibition called "Kay WalkingStick: An American Artist" toured in 2015-2016. It was shown at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. and the Heard Museum in Phoenix. This show looked at her entire career, spanning over four decades. It showed how her art combines her mixed cultural background with art movements like feminism.

In 2023, a special exhibition opened in New York City. It was called Kay WalkingStick/Hudson River School. This was her largest museum show in New York.

Art Collections

Kay WalkingStick's art can be found in many museum collections, including:

Publications by Kay WalkingStick

Kay WalkingStick has also written articles about art. She has shared her thoughts on Native American art and history. Some of her writings include:

• "Primal Visions: Albert Bierstadt 'Discovers' America," 2001.
• "Democracy, Inc: Kay WalkingStick on Indian Law." Artforum, 1991.
• "Native American Art in the Postmodern Era." Art Journal, 1992.