Frank Day, also Ly-dam-lilly (February 24, 1902 – August 13, 1976) was a Native American artist from

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Early life

Frank Day was born on February 24, 1902, in

Berry Creek, California Berry Creek (formerly, Berry Valley) is a census-designated place about northeast of Oroville, California in hilly terrain at above mean sea level. The community is located along the Oroville- Quincy Highway on the shore of Madrone Lake. The ...

. His grandfather was Big Bill Day and his father was Twoboe.Lester 142 His father was a leader in the Bald Rock Konkow Maidu. Growing up, he attended Berry Creek Public Schools, then Greenville Indian School, and

Bacone College Bacone College, formerly Bacone Indian University, is a private tribal college in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Founded in 1880 as the Indian University by missionary Almon C. Bacone, it was originally affiliated with the mission arm of what is now Americ ...

Muscogee, Oklahoma Muskogee () is the thirteenth-largest city in Oklahoma and the county seat of Muskogee County. Home to Bacone College, it lies approximately southeast of Tulsa. The population of the city was 36,878 as of the 2020 census, a 6.0 percent decrease ...

. He primarily lived in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

. After his father died in 1922, Day "became something of a vagabond."

Art career

Frank Day worked a range of jobs, including day laborer, sign painter, preacher, ranch hand, singer, cultural historian, linguist, author, and lecturer. After a serious car accident in 1960, he became a full-time painter as he recovered. Anthropologist Donald P. Jewell encouraged Day to paint imagery from

Maidu traditional narratives Maidu traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the Maidu, Konkow, and Nisenan people of eastern Sacramento Valley and foothills in northeastern California. Maidu oral literature aligned the Maidu closely ...

. Frank Day primarily painted in oils. His work is in such public collections as the

Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and A ...

;

California State University, Sacramento California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is the eleventh oldest school in the 23-campus California ...

; the

Indian Arts and Crafts Board The Indian Arts and Crafts Board (IACB) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior whose mission is to "promote the economic development of American Indians and Alaska Natives through the expansion of the Indian arts and craft ...

; and

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

Death and legacy

Day died August 13, 1976, in

. In 1999, a retrospective of his art was exhibited 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 ...

George Gustav Heye Center 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 ...

, New York; the

Museum of Indian Arts and Culture The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture is a museum of Native American art and culture located in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is one of eight museums in the state operated by the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs and is accredited by the Ameri ...

, Laboratory of Anthropology in Santa Fe; and 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. The California Indian Days Art Exhibit created the Frank Day Memorial Award in his honor.

Notes

References

External links