Volume 16 Number 1
October 1976

Viewers of the Public Broadcasting System were treated to a special six-program series on "American Indian Artists" earlier this fall. The series was produced at KAET (Channel 8), which has studios on the Arizona State University campus at Tempe.

Each program covered an artist, his life style, his work, and some of his heritage. All of the artists were from the Southwestern United States: Charles Loloma, Hopi, Hotevilla; Grace Medicine Flower and Joseph Lonewolf (brother and sister), potters, Santa Clara; Fritz Scholder, California Mission artist; Allan Houser, Chiricahua-Apache sculptor; R. C. Gorman, Navajo painter and print-maker; and Helen Hardin, also of Santa Clara, painter.

The segment on Loloma served as a pilot for the series, which was produced with a small grant from the Scottsdale National Indian Arts Council in 1973. The program earned a 1975 "Best of the West" award from the Western Educational Society for Telecommunication. It also stimulated a $125,000 grant from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting to carry out the series production.

Jack Peterson, KAET senior producer, explained that the intent of the series was to show Southwestern art as a product of individuals whose Indian heritage gave life to their sculpture, paintings and other works with the new vision of the Indian experience.

Helping create the six half-hour shows which appeared on 254 PBS channels in August and September were Tony Schmitz, director, and Don Cirillo, cinematographer. Rod McKuen was engaged to narrate segments of the programs, describing the land, its people, and some of the Indian philosophy surrounding each artist. However, much actual dialogue from the artist himself or herself was used, giving an in-depth feeling to each program.

Peterson emphasized that the series did not represent all American Indian art. "We concentrated on what we knew best and what was around us," he said.

While it is too early to assess the impact of the series on the PBS viewing public, there is one sure aspect: Those viewers previously ignorant of the heritage of past and present Indian art in this country are fewer in number now.

The below are from the KAET television series "American Indian Artists," shown on PBS, and include film clips and on-location shots. On page 29 are, clockwise, beginning top left: Tony Schmitz, director, Jack Peterson, executive producer, and Don Cirillo, cinematographer, check equipment. Subject of the pilot film, Charles Loloma works on his jewelry in his Hotevilla studio. Navajo painter R. C. Gorman sketches a study of model Virginia Martinez in his Taos studio. Setting up a shot are, from left, potter Joseph Lonewolf, his father Camilio Tafoya (who taught his children the art), Don Cirillo, cinematographer, Tony Schmitz, director, and Michael Becker, soundman. Santa Clara painter Helen Hardin works on one of her designs based on traditional art.