Joan Hill (December 19, 1930 – June 16, 2020), also known as Che-se-quah, was a

Muscogee Creek The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek or just Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language; English: ), are a group of related Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern WoodlandsCherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

ancestry. She was one of the most awarded Native American women artists in the 20th century.

Personal

Joan Hill was born in

Muskogee, Oklahoma Muskogee () is the 13th-largest city in Oklahoma and is the county seat of Muskogee County, Oklahoma, Muskogee County. Home to Bacone College, it lies approximately southeast of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Tulsa. The population of the city was 36,878 as of ...

, on December 19, 1930, the daughter of William M. and Winnie Harris Hill."Joan (Chea-Se-Quah) Hill"
askart.com; retrieved April 30, 2011. She descended from both Muscogee Creek and

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

chiefs. She chose the name Cheh-se-quah,

Muscogee The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek or just Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language; English: ), are a group of related Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands Here they waged war again ...

for "Redbird," for both her great-grandfather, Redbird Harris, and her maternal grandfather.Power, Susan C. ''Art of the Cherokee: Prehistory to the Present.'' Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2007: pp. 190-93 Redbird Harris was Cherokee and is listed on the

Dawes Rolls The Dawes Rolls (or Final Rolls of Citizens and Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes, or Dawes Commission of Final Rolls) were created by the United States Dawes Commission. The commission was authorized by United States Congress in 1893 to exe ...

. Hill lived on the site of the old

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

br>Fort Davis
located on the south bank of the Arkansas River two and one-half miles northeast of present Muskogee, with her family. Her studio was adjacent to a

Pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

Indian

mound A mound is a wikt:heaped, heaped pile of soil, earth, gravel, sand, rock (geology), rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded ...

dating from 1200 CE.

Art career

Hill attended

Bacone College Bacone College, formerly Bacone Indian University, is a private 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 American Bapt ...

. In 1952, she received her BA degree in education from

Northeastern State University Northeastern State University (NSU) is a public university with its main campus in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The university also has two other campuses in Muskogee and Broken Arrow as well as online. Northeastern is the oldest institution of hig ...

Tahlequah, Oklahoma Tahlequah ( ; , ) is a city in Cherokee County, Oklahoma located at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. It is part of the Green Country region of Oklahoma and was established as a capital of the 19th-century Cherokee Nation in 1839, as p ...

, in 1952. In 1953, Hill took the Famous Artists Course. She was a public art teacher for four years before becoming a full-time artist. She received more than 290 awards from countries including

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

.About Joan Hill
, retrieved June 23, 2007 Other honors include over 20 Grand Awards, and the Waite Phillips Artist Trophy. In addition, Hill was the winner of a prestigious

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

competition at the Daybreak Star Performing Arts Center from the Seattle Arts Commission in

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. In 1974 Hill was given the title "Master Artist" by the

Five Civilized Tribes Museum The Five Civilized Tribes Museum in Muskogee, Oklahoma, showcases the art, history, and culture of the so-called "Five Civilized Tribes": the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), and Seminole tribes. Housed in the historic Union Indi ...

in Muskogee. Over 110 of her works are in permanent collections, including the Sequoyah National Research Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation ...

Museums of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board,

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and the Smithsonian

Museum of the American Indian 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 Sm ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. State appointments include to the Governor's Commission on the Status of Women by Governor Henry Bellmon, 1989. National Appointments include U.S. Commissioner to the Indian Arts and Crafts Board, Washington D.C., by the

U.S. Secretary of the Interior The United States secretary of the interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior. The secretary and the Department of the Interior are responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land along with natur ...

–2000. In 2000, Hill was the "Honored One" of the Red Earth festival in

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

Artwork

Hill is known most for her stylized,

acrylic Acrylic may refer to: Chemicals and materials * Acrylic acid, the simplest acrylic compound * Acrylate polymer, a group of polymers (plastics) noted for transparency and elasticity * Acrylic resin, a group of related thermoplastic or thermosettin ...

paintings of historical and cultural scenes, employed a limited palette of neutrals, oranges, reds, and purples. Painting with

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting metho ...

s, she let

negative space In art and design, negative space or negative volume is the empty space around and between the subject(s) of an image. In graphic design this is known as white space. Negative space may be most evident when the space around a subject, not th ...

define foliage, mounds, or other landscape features. "Each element of her paintings is purposeful," writes author Susan C. Power. She predominantly painted Muscogee and Cherokee women and frequently painted nude

figure Figure may refer to: General *A shape, drawing, depiction, or geometric configuration *Figure (wood), wood appearance *Figure (music), distinguished from musical motif * Noise figure, in telecommunication * Dance figure, an elementary dance patt ...

s. Hill also explored nonobjective abstraction. Via Gambaro Gallery, which was launched by

Retha Walden Gambaro Retha Walden Gambaro (December 9, 1917–September 9, 2013) was an American sculptor and gallery owner. She is known for her own artworks that explore Indigenous American themes and for her curatorial practice that brought attention to contempora ...

and Stephen Gambaro to spotlight contemporary Native American artists, included Hill's work in its 1980 ''National American Indian Women's Art Show''. Hill said in 1991, "Art widens the scope of the inner and outer senses and enriches life by giving us a greater awareness of the world." In 2018 through 2020, her painting was exhibited in the exhibition ''Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists'' at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Death

Hill died on June 16, 2020.

References

External links

Joan Hill profileOral History interview with Joan Hill from the Oklahoma Native Artist program

Hill, Joan (1930–2020)
in the

Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture The Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS) is an agency of the government of Oklahoma dedicated to promotion and preservation of Oklahoma's history and its people by collecting, interpreting, and disseminating knowledge and artifacts of Oklahoma. T ...