Emma E. Amiotte (1913–1997) was an
Oglala Lakota
The Oglala (pronounced , meaning "to scatter one's own" in Lakota language) are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people who, along with the Dakota people, Dakota, make up the Sioux, Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires). A majority ...
artist.
Biography
Amiotte was born in
Manderson, SD, April 25, 1913
or 1914.
She was the adopted daughter of Maggie Red Bear and the aunt of
Arthur Amiotte
Arthur Douglas Amiotte (Wanblí Ta Hócoka Washté or Good Eagle Center) (born 1942) is an Oglala Lakota American painter, collage artist, educator, and author.Lester, 14
Biography
Arthur Amiotte was born on March 25, 1942, in Pine Ridge, Sout ...
, also a Lakota artist.
In the 1940s and/or 1950s, she was a live-in housekeeper for the Wilkins family when they lived in the Black Hills Model Home, placed on the
National Register of Historic Homes in 2004. She is one of two notable people who lived in the house.
She worked in The Tipi Shop, located in the Sioux Indian Museum, which sold indigenous arts and crafts. Through the shop, Amiotte and other women helped raise funds for the constructions of a new Sioux Indian Museum in 2016.
Amiotte died on August 16, 1997, in
Gillette WY,
and was buried in Mt. Calvary Cemetery,
Rapid City, SD.
Artist
Amiotte worked as a miniaturist, making replica dolls,
tipis, horses,
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 ...
s, and scenes of tribal life.
She used traditional materials such as quills, feathers, bones, and animal skins in her work. Her dolls are in the permanent collection of the
South Dakota Art Museum.
In 1987, Amiotte was inducted into the
South Dakota Hall of Fame.
See also
* Amiotte, E., United States Indian Arts and Crafts Board, & Sioux Indian Museum and Crafts Center. (1973)
Miniatures by Emma Amiotte: [an exhibition January 21 to February 17, 1973/nowiki>">n exhibition January 21 to February 17, 1973">
Miniatures by Emma Amiotte: [an exhibition January 21 to February 17, 1973
/nowiki> Sioux Indian Museum and Crafts Center.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amiotte, Emma E.
1913 births
1997 deaths
Oglala women artists
Oglala artists
Artists from South Dakota
20th-century Native American women
20th-century Native American artists
20th-century American artists
People from Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota
20th-century American women artists
American dollmakers