Anita Fields (born 1951) is an

Osage The Osage Nation, a Native American tribe in the United States, is the source of most other terms containing the word "osage". Osage can also refer to: * Osage language, a Dhaegin language traditionally spoken by the Osage Nation * Osage (Unicode b ...

Muscogee The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southeastern WoodlandsNative American ceramic and textile artist based in

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

. She is an enrolled member of the

Osage Nation The Osage Nation ( ) ( Osage: 𐓁𐒻 𐓂𐒼𐒰𐓇𐒼𐒰͘ ('), "People of the Middle Waters") is a Midwestern Native American tribe of the Great Plains. The tribe developed in the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys around 700 BC along ...

. Fields is recognized internationally for her work in ceramics, often rendering functional items such as purses, moccasins, and dresses in clay. She is also well known for her conceptual museum installations and

ribbonwork Ribbon work is an appliqué technique for clothing and dance regalia among Prairie and Great Lakes Native American tribes. Deb Haaland wore a ribbon skirt made by Agnes Woodward for her 2021 swearing in ceremony as US Interior Secretary. History ...

. Museums that have collected Fields' work include the

Heard Museum The Heard Museum is a private, not-for-profit museum in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, dedicated to the advancement of American Indian art. It presents the stories of American Indian people from a first-person perspective, as well as exhibitio ...

in Phoenix, Arizona; the

National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is a museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, with more than 28,000 Western and American Indian art works and artifacts. The facility also has the world's most extensive collection of Ame ...

in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; the

Museum of Art and Design The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), based in Manhattan, New York City, collects, displays, and interprets objects that document contemporary and historic innovation in craft, art, and design. In its exhibitions and educational programs, the mus ...

in New York City, the

Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian–New York, the George Gustav Heye Center, is a branch of the National Museum of the American Indian at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in Manhattan, New York City. The museum is part of the Smi ...

at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, and

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is a museum of American art in Bentonville, Arkansas. The museum, founded by Alice Walton and designed by Moshe Safdie, officially opened on 11 November 2011. It offers free public admission. Overview ...

in Bentonville, Arkansas. Her work has been included in exhibitions such as Atlatl's ''Who Stole the Tepee'' at the

National Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers. The museum has three ...

, ''Legacy of the Generations: American Indian Women Potters'' at the

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openin ...

, ''Fluent Generations: The Art of Anita, Tom and Yatika Fields'' at the Sam Noble Museum, and ''Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists'' (2019–20), a traveling exhibition at

Minneapolis Institute of Art The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United State ...

, Minneapolis, Minnesota;

Frist Art Museum The Frist Art Museum, formerly known as the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, is an art exhibition hall in Nashville, Tennessee, housed in the city's historic United States Postal Service, U.S. Post Office building, which is listed on the National ...

, Nashville, Tennessee;

Renwick Gallery The Renwick Gallery is a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum located in Washington, D.C. that displays American craft and decorative arts from the 19th to 21st century. The gallery is housed in a National Historic Landmark building that ...

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

, Washington, DC, and

Philbrook Museum of Art Philbrook Museum of Art is an art museum with expansive formal gardens located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The museum, which opened in 1939, is located in a former 1920s villa, "Villa Philbrook", the home of Oklahoma oil pioneer Waite Phillips and his wi ...

, Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 2019, Fields participated in a

Osage Nation Museum The Osage Nation Museum (ONM) in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, is devoted to Osage history, art, and culture. Highlights include an extensive photograph collection, historical artifacts, and traditional and contemporary art. Founded in 1938, the ONM is t ...

exhibition project called "Voices from the Drum" where 19 drums were dispersed to accomplished Osage artists. Each artist created a design to be displayed on the drum. The drums, having significance in Osage culture, were created by hand by Rock Pipestem. Fields is working at the Tulsa Artist Fellowship in Tulsa, and is involved in a three-year term on the Osage Election Board as an Alternate Member.

Early life

Anita Luttrell was born in

Hominy, Oklahoma Hominy (Osage: ''Hą́mąðį'' "night-walker") is a city in Osage County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 3,565 at the 2010 census, a 38 percent increase over the figure of 2,584 recorded in 2000. The town was the home of an all-Nat ...

, on the

. She is enrolled in the

and is a descendant of the

Muscogee (Creek) Nation The Muscogee Nation, or Muscogee (Creek) Nation, is a federally recognized Native American tribe based in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The nation descends from the historic Muscogee Confederacy, a large group of indigenous peoples of the South ...

. She grew up on her grandfather's allotment until she was around eight years old, when her family moved to

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. Fields lived in Colorado until she was 18 years old. Her father was a guide, outfitter, and a welder who supported the family. Fields' grandmother on her mother's side was a seamstress, and taught Fields how to sew when she was a young girl. Fields enjoyed making clothes for her favorite doll and relished in these artistic outlets from an early age. While in third grade in Colorado, Fields was taught how to make a

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

and a

collage Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...

. Her teacher at the time was passionate about the arts and influenced Fields' own love for art that would develop through time.

Education

After graduating from

Wheat Ridge High School Wheat Ridge High School is a public secondary school operated by the Jefferson County School District R-1 in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, United States. Extracurricular activities Athletics State championship titles: *Baseball: 1992 (5A) *Boys' ice ho ...

, Fields attended the

Institute of American Indian Arts The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) is a public tribal land-grant college in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The college focuses on Native American art. It operates the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA), which is housed in the historic S ...

(IAIA) in

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , Spanish for 'Holy Faith'; tew, Oghá P'o'oge, Tewa for 'white shell water place'; tiw, Hulp'ó'ona, label=Tiwa language, Northern Tiwa; nv, Yootó, Navajo for 'bead + water place') is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. ...

from 1972 to 1974. She originally went there to paint, but was exposed to many different media such as video and multi-media, clay, and sculpture, which expanded her focus. Fields met her husband, Tom Fields (Muscogee Creek/

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

), in Colorado over a holiday. Fields left the institute to raise a family with Tom. Before having children, Fields took classes at community centers and museums, such as the

. During this time Fields learned Osage finger weaving and ribbonwork. The Oklahoma Department of Career and Technical Education hired Tom, so the couple moved to

Stillwater, Oklahoma Stillwater ( iow, Ñápinⁿje, ''meaning: "Water quiet"'') is a city in, and the county seat of, Payne County, Oklahoma, United States. It is located in north-central Oklahoma at the intersection of U.S. Route 177 and State Highway 51. As of th ...

. Fields later enrolled at

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

and graduated with a bachelor's degree in fine arts. It was after completing her BFA that she made the commitment to become a full time clay artist. “Because I’m able to use clay, and the earth, I have this really strong feeling of how the earth holds the memory of the people who were there,” she said.

Artwork

Early in her career, Fields made sculptures, such as little figurines. Fields made an entire series of little clay boxes with smaller clay figures inside of them. During this period, Fields developed a lot of her work through the process of

terra sigillata Terra sigillata is a term with at least three distinct meanings: as a description of medieval medicinal earth; in archaeology, as a general term for some of the fine red Ancient Roman pottery with glossy surface slips made in specific areas of t ...

. Anita's work is usually fired in an electric kiln and finished by a postsmoking process with sawdust, straw, or leaves. She often adorns unsmoked sculptures with tiny

raku ware is a type of Japanese pottery traditionally used in Japanese tea ceremonies, most often in the form of ''chawan'' tea bowls. It is traditionally characterised by being hand-shaped rather than thrown, fairly porous vessels, which result from low ...

additions, such as elk teeth. While many of her works are figurative, the figures represent the spirituality and do not depict anyone in particular. Fields explains, "I want to show the spirituality of us as women, how we fit into family, how we remain strong yet filled with love, and how we overcome all difficulties." Clothing is a prominent inspiration in Field's clay work. For her, clothing is a symbol of transformation and heritage. Some of her pieces are dresses, standing independent, or of female figures wearing dresses. In line with this theme, Fields created a series of clay parfleches. She was especially interested in the metaphor these parfleches provided of the culture of the times and was fascinated by what we make to take care of ourselves. Other examples of her work include masks, platters, buckskin dresses, and abstracted figurative work. Her depiction of domestic motifs is intended to honor all women. After witnessing the graffiti work of her son, Fields was inspired to start incorporating distorted messages on her work. For example, in her work "Finding Our Way to the Earth" she includes her grandmother's handwriting as background images. She said her grandmother kept detailed notes on calendars and stenographer notebooks. “My grandmother had really beautiful handwriting,” she said.

Exhibitions

Fields' work has been displayed in many museums. A sample of these include: *

Sam Noble Museum Sam, SAM or variants may refer to: Places * Sam, Benin * Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso * Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso * Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso * Sam, Iran * Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place People and fictio ...

, ''Fluent Generations: The Art of Anita, Tom, & Yatika Fields'' *

, Minneapolis, MN *

, Nashville, TN *

, Washington, D.C. *

, Tulsa, OK. *''Hearts of our People: Native Women Artists'', (2019),

, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States.

Critical response

''American Craft Magazine'' interviewed Fields in its February/March 2019. Fields' art has been published in several works, including: *''American Craft'' *''American Style'' *''Contemporary Ceramics'' * ''

First American Art Magazine The ''First American Art Magazine'' is a quarterly art magazine covering living, historical, and ancestral art of Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Background ''First American Art Magazine'' was established in 2013 "to provide a common platfor ...

'' *''

Ms. Magazine ''Ms.'' is an American feminist magazine co-founded in 1971 by journalist and social/political activist Gloria Steinem. It was the first national American feminist magazine. The original editors were Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Mary Thom, Patricia Ca ...

'' *''Native Peoples'' *''Southwest Art'' *''Women Artists of the American West'' *''Encyclopedia of North American Indian''

Awards and honors

Fields is a recipient of a 2021

National Heritage Fellowship The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States government's h ...

awarded by the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. In 2021, she also received the

Anonymous Was A Woman Award The Anonymous Was A Woman Award is a grant program for women artists who are over 40 years of age, in part to counter sexism in the art world. It began in 1996 in direct response to the National Endowment for the Arts' decision to stop funding in ...

References

External links

Anita Fields Art
new website of Anita Fields artwork as of August 2020
Native Fields Art
official website of Tom and Anita Fields * *
Oklahoma Native Artists Oral History Project
Oklahoma State University Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Fields, Anita 1951 births Living people American women sculptors Sculptors from Oklahoma Institute of American Indian Arts alumni Muscogee people Native American potters Native American sculptors Native American women artists Osage people People from Hominy, Oklahoma Women potters American women ceramists American ceramists National Heritage Fellowship winners 20th-century Native American women 20th-century Native Americans 21st-century Native American women 21st-century Native Americans 20th-century American sculptors 21st-century American sculptors