Oqwa Pi ( English: Red Cloud or Kachina Stick) also known as Abel Sanchez (1899–1971), was a San Ildefonso Pueblo painter, muralist, and politician. Pi was known for his brightly colored paintings. He served as governor of the San Ildefonso Pueblo for six terms.

Biography

Oqwa Pi was born in 1899 in San Ildefonso Pueblo ( Tewa: ''P'ohwhóge Owingeh'') in New Mexico. He was educated at the Santa Fe Indian School, where he learned watercolor and mural paintings; he studied with Dorothy Dunn. The Indian School later commissioned him to create murals at the school. He then returned to the pueblo where he married and had a number of children. In 1931, the Exhibition of Indian Tribal Arts at the Grand Central Galleries in New York City happened, and as a result, Pi's work toured and was shown nationally including at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

. He attended the Santa Fe Indian School, studying under Dorothy Dunn. Pi has a mural at the Santa Fe Indian School, in the dining room. Oqwa Pi's paintings were executed in one of the two specific styles that are associated with the San Ildefonso school, a Native

art movement An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific art philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a specific period of time, (usually a few months, years or decades) or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defined ...

of self-taught artists from 1900 to 1935. His subjects include festivals, dances and native ceremonies. Regarding his paintings of Native ceremonial dances, his son Gilbert, also a painter, stated that Oqwa Pi painted spiritual, but not secretive dances that "didn't exploit their spirituality in a senseless way". Pi also was a politician, having served serving six terms as governor of San Ildefonso Pueblo. Later in life, Pi and his wife move to Santa Fe, New Mexico to live. Pi died in 1971 in Los Alamos,

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

. Two of his sons became painters, Gilbert Sánchez, and Ramos Sánchez (born 1926). His grandson, Russell Sánchez is a painter and potter.

Collections

His work is included in museum collections including at the Smithsonian American Art Museum,

Detroit Institute of Arts The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is a museum institution located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. It has list of largest art museums, one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it cove ...

, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston,

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

, Ackland Art Museum, and Denver Art Museum.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pi, Oqwa 1899 births 1971 deaths People from San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico Pueblo artists Painters from New Mexico Native American painters 20th-century indigenous painters of the Americas 20th-century Native American artists 20th-century American painters San Ildefonso Pueblo people

Biography

Collections

See also

References