Duane Slick Discusses Art, Teaching, and the Coyote

Daybreak Star Radio’s DJ Ev got a chance to talk with artist Duane Slick about his evolution as an artist and professor. Duane has art in several galleries across the US and is also a professor at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Growing up, Duane would spend weekends going to the nearby Rez for events with his family. On the return trip home, his mother would always caution him and his siblings about talking about their traditions and culture to others, saying that, because the white man does not understand the Indian, if you tell them anything the first thing they will do is take it all away.

Duane realized as a teenager that just because he couldn’t speak about it, didn’t mean he couldn’t express it through art and drawing. During his residency he found a connection to the coyote that allowed him to further delve into his art. The coyote had been eliminated in the cape when white people first came there, and the same year Duane started his residency the coyote returned to the area.

The coyote helped Duane let go and channel everything that was happening around him. He allowed his paintings to become the material that they were meant to be and used the guise of the coyote to allow himself that freedom.

Duane also uses his art to teach, especially younger children. Using sand, he builds scenes and tells stories to kids and passes on knowledge while also creating pieces of art that move with the story.

To Indigenous youth who also want to become artists, Duane implores you to draw, draw, draw. Not on an ipad or technology but feel the paper and the medium in your hands and experience drawing that way.