Joe Don Brave Osage/Cherokee 111 E. 14th Street Pawhuska ...

[Pages:2]Joe Don Brave Osage/Cherokee 111 E. 14th Street Pawhuska, OK 74056

918-861-7755 joedonbrave@

I was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1965, and named Vincent Paul Brave, after two famous artists, by my father, Franklin Brave, a successful professional artist and graphic designer. Two weeks after I was born, my father decided to nickname me Joe Don, after the Oklahoma football legend Joe Don Looney, the name caught on, and I have been Joe Don Brave ever since.

I moved to Oklahoma when I was nine, locating in Osage County, home to my Osage people, where I lived until I left for college. I grew up, completely immersed within the traditions and customs of the Osages, and have actively participated in our annual traditional ceremonial dances for 35 years.

My father was an accomplished artist, and though he passed away when I was eleven, I spent my childhood, surrounded by his artwork and skills. I still remember visiting him as a child in his studio, being given markers and paper to create with, alongside him.

I studied art at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I learned the fundamentals of art and museum studies.

I began my career as a Museum Technician, at the Osage Nation Museum, the oldest tribal museum in the country, in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, in the early 1980's. My career continued at the National Museum of the American Indian; Smithsonian Institute in New York City, where I was an integral member of the move team, moving the collections from Harlem to the Bronx and then to Suitland, Maryland. During my 10+ years in New York City, I worked with other organizations; Sotheby's Auction House as an art handler, the Tibetan Museum of Art on Staten Island and the Native American Community House Art Gallery. 8 years ago, I had the honor of returning to the Osage Tribal Museum as Curator but recently left to pursue art full time.

Besides my professional museum career and my artwork, I have had the opportunity to work on a fishing boat off the coast of Monterey Bay, California, bar tending in New Mexico and landscaping in Colorado. After 20 years of working throughout the United States, I returned to Osage County, to pursue my artwork.

My artwork revolves around my heritage, emotions, environment and expressions that I have picked up through my travels and adventures along the road, and while listening to the elders tell the stories of their experiences.

I am the son of the Osage, part of its history and a product of its many changes, endured over time. I am a citizen of the world, as such, seek to define my identity and place within these two worlds, which are but one.

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