18 Facts About Lawney Reyes

Lawney L Reyes was an American Sin-Aikst artist, curator, and memoirist, based in Seattle, Washington.

Lawney Reyes was born in 1931 to Mary Christian, Sin-Aikst.

Lawney Reyes's father was Julian Reyes, a native Filipino who largely assimilated to an Indian way of life after his marriage.

From 1940 to 1942, Lawney Reyes was a student at the Chemawa Indian School, a boarding school five miles north of Salem, Oregon.

Lawney Reyes moved back east across the mountains and attended Wenatchee Junior College, where he obtained a two-year degree.

Lawney Reyes met Joyce Meacham, a Yakama and Warm Springs Indian and they were married in 1955.

Lawney Reyes later had a career in social work and especially in Indian Health programs.

Lawney Reyes served in the US Army which gave him the opportunity to see much of Europe which confirmed his interest in working in a field related to "architecture design, and art".

Lawney Reyes worked for Seafirst Bank, initially as a designer, eventually collecting and curating the Seafirst Corporate Art Collection.

Lawney Reyes took early retirement from Seafirst Bank in 1984, and traveled North America visiting various Indian tribes.

Lawney Reyes wrote two books, his memoir White Grizzly Bear's Legacy: Learning to be Indian, and a biography of his brother Bernie Whitebear: An Urban Indian's Quest for Justice.

Lawney Reyes explored the ambiguous effect of institutions such as the Chemawa Indian School circa 1940, which simultaneously acculturated natives to the majority American culture while inspiring a sense of "Indianness," rather than affiliation with only individual tribes.

Lawney Reyes's second book, Bernie Whitebear: An Urban Indian's Quest for Justice, is a biography of his brother Bernie Whitebear.

Lawney Reyes was one of the so-called "Gang of Four" or "Four Amigos" who founded Seattle's Minority Executive Directors' Coalition.

Lawney Reyes' third book, B Street: A Gathering of Saints and Sinners, is an exploration of the Grand Coulee area between 1933 and 1941, during the construction of the Dam.

Lawney Reyes helped design the Daybreak Star Cultural Center at Fort Lawton in the Magnolia section of Seattle.

Lawney Reyes's Dreamcatcher, installed at the corner of 32nd Avenue and Yesler Way in Seattle, honors the memory of his brother Bernie and his sister Luana.

Lawney Reyes designed the logo for the Seattle Indian Health Board.