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Marcus Amerman (born 1959) is a Native American (
His exploration of so many different genres of art overlap each other. For instance, Amerman's beadwork is integrated into clothing design. His outfits are featured in his performance art. His paintings and glasswork use a vivid palette that is found in his beadwork. He has even create giant beads out of glass.
Amerman's first foray into realism in beadwork was his 1993 ''Iron Horse Jacket'', a studded leather jacket featuring a highly detailed and modeled image of Brooke Shields in beadwork. Later, he added portrait bracelets to his repertoire. He has portrayed many historical heroes in his beadwork, such as Lloyd Kiva New; as well a pop icons, such as Janet Jackson, and imagery inspired by comic superheroes is a current running throughout his work.
His paintings are expressive and often reflect his Choctaw roots, with Mississippian imagery. His work in glass also includes Mississippian ceramic designs, but more often reflects contemporary designs, such as globes of the earth.
Marcus Amerman, School of American Research
Marcus Amerman
Google Arts & Culture
Marcus Amerman
United States Artists {{DEFAULTSORT:Amerman, Marcus 1959 births Living people Artists from Phoenix, Arizona Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma people Native American beadworkers American beadworkers Native American sculptors Native American painters Native American performance artists Whitman College alumni American glass artists Institute of American Indian Arts alumni Native American fashion designers American fashion designers Sculptors from Arizona Sculptors from Mississippi 20th-century American painters 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century Native American artists 21st-century American sculptors 21st-century American painters 21st-century Native American artists Native American people from Arizona
Choctaw Nation
The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma (Choctaw: ''Chahta Okla'') is a Native American reservation occupying portions of southeastern Oklahoma in the United States. At roughly , it is the second-largest reservation in area after the Navajo, exceeding t ...
) beadwork artist, glass art
Glass art refers to individual works of art that are substantially or wholly made of glass. It ranges in size from monumental works and installation pieces to wall hangings and windows, to works of art made in studios and factories, including gl ...
ist, painter, fashion designer, and performance art
Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
ist, living in Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...
. He is known for his highly realistic beadwork portraits.
Background
Marcus Amerman was born inPhoenix, Arizona
Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...
, in 1959 but grew up in the Pacific Northwest.Bates, 96 At the age of 10, his aunt taught him the techniques for Native American beadwork. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Whitman College
Whitman College is a private liberal arts college in Walla Walla, Washington. The school offers 53 majors and 33 minors in the liberal arts and sciences, and it has a student-to-faculty ratio of 9:1.
Founded as a seminary by a territorial l ...
in Walla Walla, Washington. He also studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts and the Anthropology Film Center.
Artwork
His exploration of so many different genres of art overlap each other. For instance, Amerman's beadwork is integrated into clothing design. His outfits are featured in his performance art. His paintings and glasswork use a vivid palette that is found in his beadwork. He has even create giant beads out of glass.
Amerman's first foray into realism in beadwork was his 1993 ''Iron Horse Jacket'', a studded leather jacket featuring a highly detailed and modeled image of Brooke Shields in beadwork. Later, he added portrait bracelets to his repertoire. He has portrayed many historical heroes in his beadwork, such as Lloyd Kiva New; as well a pop icons, such as Janet Jackson, and imagery inspired by comic superheroes is a current running throughout his work.
His paintings are expressive and often reflect his Choctaw roots, with Mississippian imagery. His work in glass also includes Mississippian ceramic designs, but more often reflects contemporary designs, such as globes of the earth.
Selected public collections
Amerman's work is in such public collections as theGeorge Gustav Heye Center
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 ...
, the National Museum of the American Indian
The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers.
The museum has three ...
, the American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...
, the Heard Museum
The Heard Museum is a private, not-for-profit museum in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, dedicated to the advancement of American Indian art. It presents the stories of American Indian people from a first-person perspective, as well as exhibitio ...
, the Portland Art Museum, the Wheelwright Museum in Santa Fe, the Sequoyah National Research Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, and the Museum of Arts and Design
The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), based in Manhattan, New York City, collects, displays, and interprets objects that document contemporary and historic innovation in craft, art, and design. In its exhibitions and educational programs, the ...
. He is the only artist to have his beadwork featured in Playboy
''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...
magazine.
Honours and awards
In 2008, Amerman was a Hauberg Fellow at the Pilchuck Glass School and artist-of-residence there in 2008. In 2014 he was awarded a USA Fellow, an award supported by the Rasmuson Foundation. He andTlingit
The Tlingit or Lingít ( ) are Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. , they constitute two of the 231 federally recognized List of Alaska Native tribal entities, Tribes of Alaska. Most Tlingit are Alaska Natives; ...
artist Preston Singletary both taught at the school in 2006 as part of ''Iconoglass''.
Personal life
Amerman's brother, Roger Amerman, is also an award-winning beadworker, inspired by Southeastern Woodland designs. Their first cousin, Linda Lomahaftewa is renowned for her printmaking and painting, as was her brother and Amerman's cousin, the late Dan Lomahaftewa. Amerman lives on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation in Kooshia, Idaho, with his elderly parents.Quote
References
External links
Marcus Amerman, School of American Research
Marcus Amerman
Google Arts & Culture
Marcus Amerman
United States Artists {{DEFAULTSORT:Amerman, Marcus 1959 births Living people Artists from Phoenix, Arizona Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma people Native American beadworkers American beadworkers Native American sculptors Native American painters Native American performance artists Whitman College alumni American glass artists Institute of American Indian Arts alumni Native American fashion designers American fashion designers Sculptors from Arizona Sculptors from Mississippi 20th-century American painters 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century Native American artists 21st-century American sculptors 21st-century American painters 21st-century Native American artists Native American people from Arizona