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Oreland C. Joe
born 1958 Shiprock, New Mexico; lives Kirtland, New Mexico
Person TypeIndividual
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BiographyOreland C. Joe is a sculptor of Southern Ute and Diné (Navajo) descent. Joe grew up in Shiprock, New Mexico, the eldest son of a musically inclined Navajo woman and a Southern Ute artist and truck driver, and was greatly inspired by them as well as his grandfather. Joe excelled in art throughout his primary education, encouraged and nurtured by his teachers. In 1978, Joe traveled to France as part of a Native American dance troupe and, during his time off, would visit Versailles, where he examined sculptures created by Great Masters. The six weeks spent in Paris led Joe to attend a sculpture workshop in Italy in 1984, studying the neoclassical style of Antonio Canova. A 1986 trip to Japan introduced a broader perspective of art in other cultures. His constant studying of Great Masters alongside sculptures from France, Japan, England, and Egypt are continuing sources of inspiration. Joe is noted as being the first Native American to be admitted as a member of the prestigious Cowboy Artists of America in 1993 and won four gold and three silver medals for his sculptures over his 20-year membership. In 1996, he was chosen out of 50 artists and was commissioned by the Ponca City Native American Foundation to produce a twenty-two feet bronze sculpture of "Chief Standing Bear." In addition to receiving the New Mexico Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts, he has been asked to participate in the prestigious Prix de West Show. He has won the Prix de West Purchase Award at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. Joe has been selected to be part of the Autry Museum's Masters of the American West show, where he has been awarded the Gold Medal Sculpture and the Norris Foundation Award for Sculpture.