Edgar Heap of Birds

In this afternoon talk, artist Hock E Aye Vi (Edgar Heap of Birds in Cheyenne) discusses his recent work and distinguished career. A professor of Native American Studies at the University of Oklahoma, Heap of Birds (b. 1954) works in a range of media including painting, print, signage, sculpture, and installation, often using his art as a “cultural tool and weapon” to confront American hegemony and history.

Born in Wichita, Kansas in 1954, Heap of Birds received a BFA from the University of Kansas in 1976 and an MFA from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in 1979, and has exhibited nationally and internationally, including in the center’s 1992 exhibition Will/Power. He is the recipient of numerous honors, including grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation, and the Pew Charitable Trust. In 2012, Heap of Birds was named a Ford Fellow in the Visual Arts by United States Artists.

Cosponsored by Ohio State’s Department of Art and American Indian Studies program.