Corwin "Corky" Clairmont is a printmaker and conceptual and installation artist from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation.
17 Facts About Corwin Clairmont
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Corky Corwin Clairmont was born in 1946 at the St Ignatius Mission on the Salish Kootenai reservation.
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Creative at a young age, Corwin Clairmont was encouraged by his parents to be creative.
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Corwin Clairmont finalized his formal education in 1971 at California State University, Los Angeles, receiving a Master of Fine Arts.
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Corwin Clairmont was drawn to the work of Joseph Beuys and John Baldessari, primarily due to the environmental and nature based influence in their works.
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In 1984 Corwin Clairmont became an administrator at Salish Kootenai College, which at the time, did not have an arts program.
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Corwin Clairmont took the lead in creating an arts department.
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Corwin Clairmont designed the college's arts building, "Three Woodcocks", basing the design on a traditional Salish longhouse.
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Corwin Clairmont's 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.
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Corwin 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.
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In 1984 Corwin Clairmont returned to the reservation, where he became active in community life.
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Corwin Clairmont served on tribal committees, worked on the Flathead Resources Organization, attended sweat lodge, and became a teacher and administrator at Salish Kootenai College.
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Corwin Clairmont delved into historical studies of indigenous peoples and their relationships with early settlers, specifically the Flathead Indian Reservation and those of his friends off the reservation.
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Corwin Clairmont distributed the cutouts under rocks, representing the ongoing relationship of humans and the earth, covered in lichen, photographing them and leaving them as an offering.
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In 1993 Corwin Clairmont created Paha Sapa, the Lakota word for the Black Hills, and the location of Mount Rushmore.
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In Paha Sapa Corwin Clairmont created life-sized silhouettes of two families, one Indian and one Euroamerican.
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In June 2010 Corwin Clairmont co-designed the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes veteran memorial with architect Paul Bishop.