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In this book, historian and family friend Chris Friday shares and annotates interviews that he conducted with Lelooska, between 1993 and ending shortly before the artist's death, in 1996. This is the story of a man who reached, quite literally, a million or more people in his lifetime and whose life was at once exceptional and emblematic."
https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295983240/lelooska/
"Born in Senora, California of Cherokee and Osage Indian parents, Don Smith was adopted by Chief James Aul Sewid, hereditary chief of the Kwakitul Northwest Coast Indian tribe in 1968. This adoption gave Don and the Smith family all rights, crest and privileges of the northwest coast tribe and their lineage. Prior to this, the Smith family had assumed the Lalooska name which was given them by the Nez Perce Indians. Having no formal higher education, the most famous of this woodcarving family, Lalooska, learned carving as a young boy from his maternal grandfather and from his mother, who carved dolls. He and his brother as well as other family members became prominent artists as well as educators. In 1978, the Lalooska Foundation, a non-profit educational foundation, was established to increase the scope of the family's work." [From biography included in acquisition file - F1998.079.009]
See also - http://lelooska.org/about/chief/
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for Don (Lelooska) Smith
Don (Lelooska) Smith
United States, 1933 - 1996
Place of BirthUnited States of America
Biography"Don Smith - or Lelooska, as he was usually called - was a prominent Native American artist and storyteller in the Pacific Northwest. Born in 1933 of “mixed blood” Cherokee heritage, he was adopted as an adult by the prestigious Kwakiutl Sewid clan and had relationships with elders from a wide range of tribal backgrounds. Initially producing curio items for sale to tourists and regalia for Oregon Indians, Lelooska emerged in the late 1950s as one of a handful of artists who proved crucial to the renaissance of Northwest Coast Indian art. He also developed into a supreme performer and educator, staging shows of dances, songs, and storytelling. During the peak years, from the 1970s to the early 1990s, the family shows with Lelooska as the centerpiece attracted as many as 30,000 people annually.In this book, historian and family friend Chris Friday shares and annotates interviews that he conducted with Lelooska, between 1993 and ending shortly before the artist's death, in 1996. This is the story of a man who reached, quite literally, a million or more people in his lifetime and whose life was at once exceptional and emblematic."
https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295983240/lelooska/
"Born in Senora, California of Cherokee and Osage Indian parents, Don Smith was adopted by Chief James Aul Sewid, hereditary chief of the Kwakitul Northwest Coast Indian tribe in 1968. This adoption gave Don and the Smith family all rights, crest and privileges of the northwest coast tribe and their lineage. Prior to this, the Smith family had assumed the Lalooska name which was given them by the Nez Perce Indians. Having no formal higher education, the most famous of this woodcarving family, Lalooska, learned carving as a young boy from his maternal grandfather and from his mother, who carved dolls. He and his brother as well as other family members became prominent artists as well as educators. In 1978, the Lalooska Foundation, a non-profit educational foundation, was established to increase the scope of the family's work." [From biography included in acquisition file - F1998.079.009]
See also - http://lelooska.org/about/chief/
Person TypeIndividual
United States, born Switzerland, 1806 - 1834
United States, 1935 - 2022