Corwin "Corky" Clairmont is a

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proce ...

and

conceptual Conceptual may refer to: Philosophy and Humanities *Concept *Conceptualism *Philosophical analysis (Conceptual analysis) *Theoretical definition (Conceptual definition) *Thinking about Consciousness (Conceptual dualism) *Pragmatism (Conceptual pr ...

and

installation art Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called ...

ist from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation. Known for his high concept and politically charged works, Clairmont seeks to explore situations that affect Indian Country historically and in contemporary times.

I don't put work out that gives solutions but provokes questions. - Corky Clairmont

Background

Early life

Corky Clairmont was born in 1946 at the

St. Ignatius Mission The St. Ignatius Mission is a landmark Jesuit missions in North America, Catholic mission located in St. Ignatius, Montana. It was founded in 1854 by Society of Jesus, Jesuit priests Pierre-Jean De Smet and Adrianus Hoecken, Adrian Hoecken. The ...

on the Salish Kootenai reservation. Creative at a young age, Clairmont was encouraged by his parents to be creative. During the holidays family members gave him

paint by number Paint by number or painting by numbers are kits having a board on which light markings to indicate areas to paint, and each area has a number and a corresponding numbered paint to use. The kits come with little compartmentalised boxes where the ...

kits, which he disliked, never completing them. At age 15 he submitted a design for the communities' tribal seal; it was chosen, and is still used to this day. Attending high school in Polson he learned about the different elements of fine art, and during his sophomore year he was introduced to using a

palette knife A palette knife is a blunt tool used for mixing or applying paint, with a flexible steel blade. It is primarily used for applying paint to the canvas, mixing paint colors, adding texture to the painted surface, paste, etc., or for marbling, decora ...

to paint with acrylics. This was his first experience in fine art painting, paving the path for a future as a professional artist.

Higher education

Obtaining a Bachelor of Arts at

Montana State University Montana State University (MSU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 6 ...

, Clairmont went on to complete a graduate fellowship at San Fernando State University. He finalized his formal education in 1971 at

California State University, Los Angeles California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) is a public university in Los Angeles, California. It is part of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) system. Cal State LA offers 142 bachelor's degrees, 122 master's degrees, ...

, receiving a Master of Fine Arts. His higher educational experiences provided him awareness about the movements of the 20th century international art world. Clairmont was drawn to the work of

Joseph Beuys Joseph Heinrich Beuys ( , ; 12 May 1921 – 23 January 1986) was a German artist, teacher, performance artist, and art theorist whose work reflected concepts of humanism, sociology, and anthroposophy. He was a founder of a provocative art mov ...

and

John Baldessari John Anthony Baldessari (June 17, 1931 – January 2, 2020) was an American conceptual artist known for his work featuring found photography and appropriated images. He lived and worked in Santa Monica and Venice, California. Initially a painter, ...

, primarily due to the environmental and nature based influence in their works.Tremblay, Gail. ''Corwin "Corky" Clairmont''. Path Breakers. Indianapolis, Eiteljorg Museum of Native Americans and Western Art. 2003. After graduation he remained in Los Angeles teaching fine arts and handling programming at

Otis Art Institute Otis College of Art and Design is a private art and design school in Los Angeles, California. Established in 1918, it was the city's first independent professional school of art. The main campus is located in the former IBM Aerospace headquarte ...

Current activities

In 1984 Clairmont became an administrator at

Salish Kootenai College Salish Kootenai College (SKC) is a private tribal land-grant community college in Pablo, Montana. It serves the Bitterroot Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d'Oreilles tribes. SKC's main campus is on the Flathead Reservation. There are three satellite ...

, which at the time, did not have an arts program. He took the lead in creating an arts department. In 1989, he was named Director of Art Programming and Assistant Vice President, positions he still holds today. He designed the college's arts building, "Three Woodcocks", basing the design on a traditional Salish

longhouse A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room building for communal dwelling. It has been built in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe, and North America. Many were built from timber and often rep ...

. He lives in

Ronan, Montana Ronan ( Salish: ocqʔetkʷ) is a city in Lake County, Montana, United States. It lies on the Flathead Indian Reservation, approximately 12 miles south of Flathead Lake in the northwestern part of the state. The population was 1,955 at the 2020 ...

and has served on the Montana Arts Council Board since 2008 and the Ronan Consumer Advisory Committee.

Fine art career

Gail Tremblay Gail Tremblay (born 1945) is an American writer and artist with Mi'kmaq and Onondaga ancestry. A professor at The Evergreen State College since 1981, she lives and works in Washington State. Tremblay received a Washington State Governor's Arts an ...

on Clairmont's work:

His work offers a door to revelation and gives indigenous and non-Indian people alike a space to reflect on the dynamics of culture in their lives.

Early work

Clairmont started creating conceptual artworks inspired by the likes of Beuys and Baldessari, often working as an individual or collaborating with other artists, showing primarily in Los Angeles. In 1979 he was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Visual Arts Grant which supported him to travel to seven American cities and publish fragments of the statement "Support Subversive Art in Your Community" in major newspapers. Documenting his conceptual project, Clairmont gathered postcards and photographs from the seven cities, sending copies of these materials, and the newspapers, to the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...

and the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...

for display. Completed assemblages would allow viewers to see the statement in its entirety. With ''Los Angeles Sidewalk/Survival'' (1981) Clairmont photographed 12-inch squares of Los Angeles sidewalks. The images depicted the many faces of concrete in the city: grass growing through cracks, pitted concrete, graffiti, contractor stamps. Each photograph had instructions on the back with instructions on how to survive broken

bone A bone is a Stiffness, rigid Organ (biology), organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red blood cell, red and white blood cells, store minerals, provid ...

choking Choking, also known as foreign body airway obstruction (FBAO), is a phenomenon that occurs when breathing is impeded by a blockage inside of the respiratory tract. An obstruction that prevents oxygen from entering the lungs results in oxygen de ...

nuclear fallout Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioac ...

and other extreme situations. Through this series Clairmont sought to explore "the way differences in how occupants of rural and urban areas interact can create surreal dislocations of imagery and idea." Clairmont's early pieces reflected many other conceptual works by other artists of the late 1970s and early 1980s, focusing on concerns about nature and the purpose of art. Suffering from feelings of

dislocation In materials science, a dislocation or Taylor's dislocation is a linear crystallographic defect or irregularity within a crystal structure that contains an abrupt change in the arrangement of atoms. The movement of dislocations allow atoms to sl ...

after leaving the reservation, these works allowed Clairmont to convey the emotional impacts of moving from the

Big Sky Country Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

to a large metropolis like Los Angeles.

Return to Montana

In 1984 Clairmont returned to the reservation, where he became active in community life. He served on tribal committees, worked on the Flathead Resources Organization, attended

sweat lodge A sweat lodge is a low profile hut, typically dome-shaped or oblong, and made with natural materials. The structure is the ''lodge'', and the ceremony performed within the structure may be called by some cultures a purification ceremony or simply ...

, and became a teacher and administrator at Salish Kootenai College. He delved into historical studies of indigenous peoples and their relationships with early settlers, specifically the

Flathead Indian Reservation The Flathead Indian Reservation, located in western Montana on the Flathead River, is home to the Bitterroot Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d'Oreilles tribes – also known as the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation. The ...

and those of his friends off the reservation.

It's work that I feel is educational and is not just for the native community, but is for everyone that might want to get a better understanding of our Indian people. - Corky Clairmont

Influenced by his research he created two major works of his career about the

Treaty of Hellgate The Treaty of Hellgate was a treaty agreement between the United States and the Bitterroot Salish, Upper Pend d'Oreilles, Pend d'Oreille, and Lower Kutenai tribes. The treaty was signed at Hell Gate, Montana, Hellgate on 16 July 1855. Signatories ...

. The first work is a reprint of the entire treaty printed in small type on a threefold wallet-sized card, which he distributed and displayed. The second work, ''Skunk Prairie Hellgate Treaty Rocks'', featured the treaty text written in a

spiral In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which emanates from a point, moving farther away as it revolves around the point. Helices Two major definitions of "spiral" in the American Heritage Dictionary are: After completing the handwritten portion of the work, Clairmont cut his copy into 50 5x7 inch mats, with rectangular cutouts in the center of each mat. These cutouts were taken to Skunk Prairie, a traditional hunting and gathering area of the Salish Kootenai people. He distributed the cutouts under rocks, representing the ongoing relationship of humans and the earth, covered in

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.offering. The photographs were placed in the rectangular cutouts of the mats, then the mats were placed in clear plastic envelopes and displayed in the form of an "X" the wall, representing the signatures of those who signed the treaty.

1990s

The 1990s saw the

Quincentennial An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saint ...

celebration of the arrival of

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

in 1492, which led to a series of commentary artworks titled the ''Submuloc Warrior'' (''Submuloc'' is Columbus spelled backwards). In this heavily charged series, Clairmont uses irony to confront the cities which have been named as a tribute to the explorer and the celebration of the anniversary of North American European colonization and

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...

. The ''Grandfather Rocks'' series comprised two artworks, one about the murder of

Piegan Blackfeet The Piegan ( Blackfoot: ''Piikáni'') are an Algonquian-speaking people from the North American Great Plains. They were the largest of three Blackfoot-speaking groups that made up the Blackfoot Confederacy; the Siksika and Kainai were the oth ...

man by the

Lewis and Clark Expedition The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gro ...

, and another about the defeat of

Chief Joseph ''Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt'' (or ''Hinmatóowyalahtq̓it'' in Americanist orthography), popularly known as Chief Joseph, Young Joseph, or Joseph the Younger (March 3, 1840 – September 21, 1904), was a leader of the Wal-lam-wat-kain (Wallowa ...

. A series of photographs and text, Clairmont combines the two encouraging viewers to question the

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

of the topics presented in the works. Animals bridge flathead reservation

This decade also brought the prominence of printmaking into Clairmont's catalog. Heavily layered, his monoprints and prints entail multiple meanings and images, encouraging exploration by the viewer to question the meaning and symbolism within his works. ''Turtle X's 93'' utilized images of turtles, bears, birds, buffalo, trucks, car, bulldozers, chevrons and photographs of Montana landscape and highways. Combined with bold colors and grayscale, he explored trade, transportation, and the dangerous effects that

U.S. Route 93 U.S. Route 93 (US 93) is a major north–south United States highway, numbered highway in the western United States. The southern terminus is at U.S. Route 60 in Arizona, US 60 in Wickenburg, Arizona. The northern terminus is at the ...

has had on the reservation and its wildlife. Each image, in the series of 10 prints, proceeds to show the onslaught of traffic into the area, until the vehicles outnumber the animals. In response, Clairmont worked with community members and highway officials to secure overpasses over waterways and pond areas, allowing for safe passage of affected animals.
Video clips of bears, mountain lions, deer
and other animals using the Rt. 93

wildlife crossings Wildlife crossings are structures that allow animals to cross human-made barriers safely. Wildlife crossings may include underpass tunnels or wildlife tunnels, viaducts, and overpasses or green bridges (mainly for large or herd-type animals) ...

are available. As of Feb. 28, 2011, the

Montana Department of Transportation The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) is a governmental agency in the U.S. state of Montana, responsible for numerous programs related to the construction, maintenance, and monitoring of Montana's transportation infrastructure and operati ...

reports that "With the majority of the US 93 Evaro-Polson (The Peoples Way) reconstruction work on the Flathead Indian Reservation nearly complete, wildlife, and natural resource managers on the project are now moving into the next phase of assuring the highway is fitting into the landscape and Spirit of Place. The Peoples Way Project set a new standard for mitigating the impacts of roads and traffic on wildlife with wildlife fencing combined with dozens of wildlife underpasses and one wildlife overpass."

Paha Sapa controversy

In 1993 Clairmont created ''Paha Sapa'', the

Lakota Lakota may refer to: *Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language, the language of the Lakota peoples Place names In the United States: *Lakota, Iowa *Lakota, North Dakota, seat of Nelson County *Lakota ...

word for the

Black Hills The Black Hills ( lkt, Ȟe Sápa; chy, Moʼȯhta-voʼhonáaeva; hid, awaxaawi shiibisha) is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black Elk P ...

, and the location of

Mount Rushmore Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a national memorial centered on a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore (Lakota: ''Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe'', or Six Grandfathers) in the Black Hills near Keystone, South Dakota ...

. In ''Paha Sapa'' Clairmont created life-sized

silhouette A silhouette ( , ) is the image of a person, animal, object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the silhou ...

s of two families, one Indian and one Euroamerican. The silhouetted family members wear reflective sunglasses, with the Euroamerican sunglasses reflecting the presidential images on Mount Rushmore. In contrast, the Indian family sunglasses show four skulls, making a powerful statement about the history of genocide towards indigenous peoples, and simultaneously raising the question of what this largest of all Presidential memorials is actually showing us—do we see the gigantic faces of greatness, or the immensity of death? Displayed in a group show at the

Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art (also known by its acronym, PGSMA) is an art museum located at 1400 First Avenue North in Great Falls, Montana, in the United States. The building was constructed in 1896 to house the city's first high school, G ...

, ''Paha Sapa'' was viewed by the superintendent of

Great Falls Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

schools, who proceeded to cancel all scheduled field trips to the exhibition which celebrated American Indian artists from Montana. The press got wind of the controversy, in which the superintendent defended the decision on grounds of not wanting to expose students to artwork that criticized the government's actions towards Indians. This led to major conversations and dialogue by local and regional residents, who questioned the politically charged artwork and the censorship that took place.

2000s

In the early 2000s he decided to revisit Lewis and Clark in the series ''10,000 Years Indigenous Indian People, 200 Years Lewis and Clark''.

Monoprint Monoprinting is a type of printmaking where the intent is to make unique prints, that may explore an image serially. Other methods of printmaking create editioned multiples, the monoprint is editioned as 1 of 1. There are many techniques of mono-pr ...

s, the series continues his use of animal imagery such as lizards, turtles, fish, eagles, hawks, bear and horses. Moving through the prints, the animals disappear and reappear, representing the trail taken by Lewis and Clark from

Bismarck, North Dakota Bismarck () is the capital of the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Burleigh County. It is the state's second-most populous city, after Fargo. The city's population was 73,622 in the 2020 census, while its metropolitan popula ...

to the

Pacific Coast Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean. Geography Americas Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western or southwestern border, except for Panama, where the Pac ...

. Retracing the trail, Clairmont shows photographs and segments of a map depicting the journey.

Moccasin A moccasin is a shoe, made of deerskin or other soft leather, consisting of a sole (made with leather that has not been "worked") and sides made of one piece of leather, stitched together at the top, and sometimes with a vamp (additional panel o ...

prints travel through the works, representing the hard-soled shoes that changed the way of life for Native peoples in the areas explored, shoes that don't feel the ground beneath them, unlike the soft-soled natural moccasins. A serious look at the value of resources, the affected cultures of journey, and the land that was disturbed, Clairmont continued to reflect on the effects of Anglo settling in Indian Country, not just his own community. New installation work began to form during this decade as well, including ''TIME X'', using gift shop "artifacts" - trinkets collected from his travels representing "Indians" - in an altar like presentation. Clairmont questions stereotypes, kitsch, and the way that Lewis and Clark's exploration is represented in gift shops and culture in contemporary times. In 2003 he was rewarded with an Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Art. ''TIME X'', ''10,000 Years Indigenous Indian People, 200 Years Lewis and Clark'', ''Turtle X's 93'' and ''Split Shield'' were exhibited in a group show at the

Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art The Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art is an art museum in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The Eiteljorg houses an extensive collection of visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas as well as Western Ame ...

2010s

In June 2010 Clairmont co-designed the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes veteran memorial with architect Paul Bishop. The memorial, made of granite, forms a large eagle. Each side of the center panel features images of a mounted warrior, one male and one female, on each side, along with buffalos. Images of Salish and Kootenai camps are also depicted, on the wings of the eagle. The panels feature the names of Salish, Pend d'Oreille and Kootenai tribal members who have served throughout the United States military, with room for upwards of 2,600 names, as well as an area for unknown warriors. Seeking inspiration, Clairmont visited with tribal elder veterans for ideas on what the memorial should look like. Upon completing the design, he presented it to community members of various groups for approval. Clairmont on creating the memorial:

I felt that the Creator and those we are honoring got to me somehow and influenced the concept I came up with. In reality my inspiration came from many forces. I just put what I see together. Even though this memorial is specific to our tribal veterans I can’t help but believe that it honors all Indian veterans.

Notable works

*Emblem of the

American Indian Library Association American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

*Tribal seal of the Salish-Kootenai *Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Veterans Memorial, 2010

Exhibitions

*''Corwin Clairmont'': Two-Headed Arrow/The Tar Sands Project *''Corwin Clairmont: Welcome to the Rez'', 2009, Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT *''Native Perspectives on the Trail'', 2005, Missoula Art Museum, Missoula, MT *''Reflections After Lewis and Clark–Contemporary Native American Art'', Montana Museum of Art & Culture, Missoula, MT *''Corwin Clairmont: Halfway Between Here & There'', 2001, Missoula Art Museum, Missoula, MT *''Indian Reality Today'', 1999, Westfälisches Museum für Naturkunde, Muenster, West Germany *''New Art of the West 5'', 1996, Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, IN *''Contemporary Indian Art'', 1995,

Denver Art Museum The Denver Art Museum (DAM) is an art museum located in the Civic Center of Denver, Colorado. With encyclopedic collections of more than 70,000 diverse works from across the centuries and world, the DAM is one of the largest art museums between t ...

, Denver, CO *''Treaty Times: Past, Present and Future'', Missoula Art Museum, Missoula, MT

Notable collections

* Missoula Art Museum, Missoula, MT * Montana Museum of Art & Culture, Missoula, MT *

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 ...

, Washington, D.C. *

Spencer Museum of Art The Spencer Museum of Art is an art museum operated by the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the Spencer Museum seeks to "...present its collection as a living archive that motivates object-c ...

, Lawrence, KS

Awards

*''Montana Governor's Arts Award for Visual Arts'', 2008, State of Montana *''Eiteljorg Fellowship'', 2003, Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art *''National Endowment for the Arts Visual Arts Grant'', 1979,

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 ...

*''Ford Foundation Grant for the Arts'', 1971,

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

*''Artist-in-Residence'',

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

References

External links

''2003 Eiteljorg Fellow''
from the Eiteljorg Museum, Corwin's bio and selected works.

from the Missoulian, a video documenting the dedication of the veterans memorial.
''Relaying Traditional Culture Through Modern Art''
from the Flathead Beacon, Clairmont and other contemporary artists teach local students.

featuring Clairmont's thoughts on his position, programming and students work. {{DEFAULTSORT:Clairmont, Corwin 1946 births Living people 20th-century Native Americans 21st-century Native Americans Artists from Montana California State University, Los Angeles alumni Interior Salish Ktunaxa people Modern printmakers National Endowment for the Arts Fellows Native American conceptual artists Native American installation artists Native American printmakers People from St. Ignatius, Montana People from Ronan, Montana