31 Facts About Truman Lowe

Truman Tennis Lowe was an American sculptor and installation artist.

Truman Lowe is known for large site-specific installation pieces using natural materials.

Truman Lowe was born on January 1,1944, in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, on the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin reservation to Mabel Davis and Martin Truman Lowe.

The youngest of six children, Truman Lowe was thirteen years younger than his sister, Irene.

Truman Lowe traveled as a seasonal worker, picking blueberries and cranberries throughout the state.

Truman Lowe served as a tour guide on the Dells' excursion boats, again in "costume".

Truman Lowe taught elementary and secondary art classes in the public schools and worked at his own art in his spare time.

Truman Lowe worked as a visiting art lecturer at Emporia State University.

That year, Truman Lowe was given a joint appointment at the university in the Native American studies program, and as assistant professor of sculpture.

In 2000 Truman Lowe was appointed as the curator of contemporary art for the National Museum of the American Indian.

Truman Lowe's mother made split-ash baskets and his father made the wooden handles for the baskets.

Truman Lowe crafted beadwork by a kerosene lamp in the evening as a young man.

Truman Lowe recognized the more recent social prestige related to the artist and artistic creation.

Truman Lowe was the first artist I'd met through my studies who went to work everyday and was paid by his patrons [and] employers for making art.

Truman Lowe studied the works of Brancusi, where he familiarized himself with geometry in sculpture, and Henry Moore's works regarding scale in sculpture.

Aware of the energy brewing in Native America, Truman Lowe focused on school:.

Truman Lowe discovered the Foxfire books as popular culture discovered the concept of the "ecological Indian".

At the premier of Red Banks Truman Lowe embraced the importance of the artist as a storyteller and archivist of culture:.

Truman Lowe's work has flowed into two dimensional drawings, where he has chosen to honor his mother's legacy.

Many of his works have incorporated other traditional Native objects frequently found within museum collections such as the work Cradle Board where Truman Lowe used photographs found in the Wisconsin State Historical Society collections to serve as inspirations and putting his own twist on the concept of a cradle board.

Primitive housing and structures served as a way for Truman Lowe to reflect on the disappearance of cultures in time, memory and history by way of an aesthetic.

Small and large installations began to emerge in Truman Lowe's work depicting higher conceptions influenced by his son's interest in astronomy.

In 1991 Truman Lowe launched the first of site-specific installations in a series called Red Ochre.

Truman Lowe's work reveals ideas of blending cultures, rituals, and migration through time.

Truman Lowe's work incorporated images of rock art, examining how cultures' migration paths crossed by way of unifying natural artistic venues.

Truman Lowe suggested that rock art served as communication devices for cultures worldwide.

Truman Lowe uses images and suggestions of water in many of his works, including the canoes.

In 1992 Truman Lowe was commissioned by the Minnesota Arts Commission for a sculpture at Cloquet Community College.

Many of Truman Lowe's constructions are created from willow saplings, often the only material used in installations.

Truman Lowe collects the saplings from Wisconsin farms in the summertime, gathering a large amount, peeling off the bark, and sanding the resulting sticks to bring out the white in the sapling.

Flexibility and strength are essential with willow, allowing Truman Lowe to bend and manipulate the wood to his needs.