Sǫhahiyo (he has a good road)

Richard was born on August 18, 1955 and grew up in the St. Louis, Missouri area. He graduated from University City High School, University City, MO in the class of 1973. In 1976 he earned his Associate of Art Degree at Meramec Commmunity College in St. Louis, MO. From there he moved to the Kansas City Art Institute in Kansas City, MO, where he studied ceramics.

Seated ceremonial speaker for the Wandat Springs ceremonial grounds and enrolled with Wyandot Nation of Kansas (not federally recognized) which is recognized by the Wyandotte Nation Oklahoma (federally recognized), the Wyandot Nation of Anderdon, and the Wendat Nation of Wendake Qc. (federally recognized).

"I am thankful to my family for the support and encouragement, and my parents who gave me an insatiable appetite to seek the truth. To All my First Nations brothers and sisters, and all the children who urge me on by their love of singing in Wyandot and their love of storytelling…

"I'm most grateful to my wife Carol, my constant companion for 39 years, her steadfastness, her friendship, her patient love and thoughtfulness. Above all I'm thankful to our Creator who is more mysterious and greater than anything I could have ever imagined.

"I am a Wyandot. We never divided ourselves in pieces or parts. I know my family history and am proud to be an active tradition keeper as we seek to revive our ceremonies, our dances, our songs and our language."

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

• "Spoken Through Clay" - The Eric S. Dobkin Collection, 2017, book, pp. 300-307
• "American Art Collector" - magazine, issue 118, August 2015 article pp. 162-163
• "The Olson- Brandelle North American Indian Art Collection" - Augustana College, 2010, pp. 254-257
• "Maori Art Market 2009" - published book/catalog by "Toi Maori Aotearoa" pp. 144-45
• "Design" by Steven Aimone, Lark Publishers, 2004, pp.20.
• "In Touch with the Past" - Southwest Art Magazine, Aug. 2003, pp. 154-158.
• "Changing Hands, Art without Reservation, 1" - American Craft Museum, 2002, Forwards by McFadden & Taubman, Merrell Publishers, pp.11,19, 26, 58, 149, 158, 180, 201.
• "Contemporary Ceramics" - by Susan Peterson, Published by Watson Guptill, 2002
• "Hand Built Ceramics" - by Kathy Triplett, Published by Lark Books, 1997, pp. 29, 46, & 50.
• "The Craft and Art of Clay" - by Susan Peterson, Published by Overlook Press, 1996, pp. 180.
• "The Pottery of Richard Zane Smith" - Ceramics Monthly, Sept. 1992, pp. 58-61.
• "Modeling" (Arts and Crafts series) - Wayland Publisher, England.
• "Fired Up! Making Pottery in Ancient Times" - Runestone Press, 1993, pp. 23 & 35, by Rivka Goren.
• "Art of Clay" - edited by Lee M. Cohen, Clear Light Publishers, Santa Fe, NM, 1993, pp.113-119.
• "Beyond Tradition, Contemporary American Indian Art and Its Evolution" by Jerry and Lois Jacka, Northland Publishing So. 1988, pp. 99 & 194
• "The New Individualists" - Jerry & Lois Jacka, Arizona Highways, May 1986, pp. 30 & 46.
• "The Eloquent Object" - Thomas & Marcia Manhart, eds. Tulsa Philbrook Museum of Art, 1987, pp. 35 & 64.

SELECTED EXHIBITS and MUSEUM COLLECTIONS, ongoing:

• 2018 - Commissioned art work for display in the Shawnee Tribe Cultural Center
• 2018 - August show and demo at Andrea Fisher Fine Pottery Gallery
• 2017 - August Show and Demonstration at Andrea Fisher Fine Pottery
• 2017 - Heard Museum exhibit, "Beauty Speaks for Us" showing till April
• 2017 - Autry Museum of the Amewrican West, Los Angeles Ca . a piece for their permanant Collection
• 2016 - commissioned work for the cultural resorce museum - Eastern Shawnee Nation of Oklahoma
• 2015 - commissioned piece for the Muscarelle Museum of Art at the College of William and Mary Virginia
through 2016 - continual shows - Blue Rain Gallery, Santa Fe, NM.
• 2014 - Kokiri Putahi, 2014, 7th gathering of International Indigenous Visual Artists, New Zealand - Te Runanga A Iwi O Ngapuhi art exhibition in the Toi Ngapuhi Exhibition
  
• 2009 - Invited guest artist - Maori Art Market 2009 Porirua, New Zealand
• 2009 - National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum , for their permanent collection
• 2007 - Heard Museum exhibit, Phoenix Az.
• 2007-08 - New York, NY. and Chicago Ill. , S.O.F.A. Shows , Blue Rain Gallery
• 2006 - Palm Springs California ,Blue Rain Gallery of Santa Fe, traveling group exhibit
• 2003 - "NDN ART" Booksigning and Exhibit. College of Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM
• 2002 - "Changing Hands: Art without Reservations" American Craft Museum, NYC, NY
• 2001 - Heard Museum, Phoenix, Az. Solo Exhibit
• 2000 - San Francisco, Calif. , Blue Rain Gallery of Santa Fe, traveling group exhibit
• 1998-99 - "Head & Heart & Hands", touring exhibition presented by the Kentucky Art and Craft Gallery, Louisville, KY
• 1997 - "Celebrating American Craft", exhibition Kunstindustrie Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark
• 1995 - Wyandot County Historical Museum, Bonner Springs, KS
• 1994 - Philbrook Museum, Tulsa, OK. Permanent Collection.
• 1991 - Gallery 10, "New Works", solo exhibition, Scottsdale, AZ
• 1991 - Kavesh Gallery, "The West in Image and Object", Ketchum, ID
• 1991 - San Diego Museum of Man, "All is More Beautiful", group exhibit and lecture.
• 1987-89 - "The Eloquent Object", traveling exhibition of the Philbrook Musuem of Art, Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa, OK
• 1989 - Denver Art Museum, Denver, Co., Permanent Collection
• 2003 - American Craft Museum, NY, NY., Permanent Collection

LECTURES AND DEMONSTRATIONS:

• 2017 - Wendat pottery workshop and lecture at the University of Toronto, Mississauga, Ontario
• 2016 - Guest speaker at the opening of Indigenous Beauty, Masterworks of American Indian Art from the Diker Collection, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo OH
• 2014 - slide presentation Philbrook Museum, Tulsa, OK
• 2014 - Kokiri Putahi, 2014, 7th gathering of International Indigenous Visual Artists, New Zealand - Te Runanga A Iwi O Ngapuhi, art exhibition in the Toi Ngapuhi Exhibition
  
• 2012 - Presentation given "Circling Back, Recovery of Wendat-Wyandot(te) Lifeways", (Congrès d'études wendat et Wyandot )Wendat and Wyandot Studies Conference Wendake, PQ, 13-16th June 2012
• 2009 - Lecture / powerpoint presentation at “Toihoukura” Art School in Gisborne, New Zealand
  - also at "Te Wananga o Aotearoa" Whirikoka Campus, also in Gisbourne, New Zealand
  
• 2006 - participated in Panel discussion of three Native artists; Jody Folwell, Roxanne Swentzil and myself at the Denver Art Museum
• 2003 - Pottery Demonstration, slide/lecture. Workshop. Philbrook Museum, Tulsa, OK
• 2001 - Pottery Demonstration, slide/lecture. The Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ
• 2000 - Kanehsatake High School, Mohawk Reserve, Quebec, Canada. Demonstration and slide presentation.
• 1998 - San Juan Campus, Blanding, UT, Lecture, slide presentation, and demonstration.
• 1998 - L'Abri Conference on Creation and Culture, Rochester, MN. slide presentation, and demonstration.
• 1994, 1996, 1997 - Meramec Community College, St. Louis, MO, slide lecture and demonstration.
• 1991 - Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, KS. Lecture and demonstration.
• 1991 - University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Lecture and week demonstration.
• 1991 - National Council of Education for the Ceramic Arts, Arizona State Univ. Tempe, AZ. Demonstration.
• 1990 - Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, "Historic & Modern Pueblo Ceramics: Tradition and Change", sponsored by Recursos de Santa Fe, NM

TEACHING (art related)

2018 - One month program at Spiva Center for the Arts, Joplin, MO, for 3rd graders
• 2018 - Intense two week pottery instruction of Wendat/Iroquoian pottery techniques with Jennifer Stevens
• 2017 - Pottery lessons off and on through the year with Carrie Lind and others
• 2016 - At my studio Shawnee ancestral pottery workshops with the Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma
• 2015 - At my studio revitalization pottery workshop with the Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma
• 2012 - At my studio, Seneca/Cayuga , Iroquoian pottery techniques
• 2010 - At my studio , traditional Wendat/Iroquoian pottery workshop, 8 weeks
• 2006 - Instructor for a non-federally-recognized Cherokee group, 8 week traditional pottery workshop
  - Also an Eastern Shawnee, traditional pottery workshop
  
• 2001, 2003, 2007 - Wendake Reserve CDFM, Community College, Lorette, PQ, Canada, week-long workshops
• 2003-04 - Pottery Workshop for tribal members, Wyandotte, OK
• 2001 - Instructor, Rehoboth High School, Gallup, NM. week Summer Pottery Workshop
• 1998 - Instructor, "From the Earth" One week workshop, San Juan Campus, Blanding, UT
• 1982 - Instructor, "Anasazi Pottery Traditions", Northland Pioneer College, satellite program, one semester, Ganado, AZ
• 1978-79 - Art Instructor, Sun Valley Navajo Mission School, Holbrook, AZ

HONORS

• 2010 - First Peoples Fund: 2010 Community Spirit Awards (for clay, storytelling and Wyandot songs for children)
• 2007 - Honored at Wyandotte Nation Pow-wow (for Wyandot language revitalization effort and teaching language to children in The Wyandotte Public School district - 7 years total)
• 1983 - Heard Museum Guild: Native American Art Show - Best of Pottery
• I haven't entered any art competitions since 1985

VOLUNTEER

• 2018: Story telling for the pre-school at the Learning Center in Grove, OK
• 2005-2016: Storyteller for public schools in Grove and Wyandotte, OK
• 2013-2017: Wandat Language Facebook site to teach and share Wandat Language material
• 2005-2012: Teaching Wandat language/culture in the Wyandotte Public Schools, Wyandotte OK
• 2009-2012: Teaching Wandat language to preschoolers, Turtle Tots preschool, Wyandotte OK
• 2012-2013: Teaching adult Wyandot language class on Thursday evenings
• Presently: Holding ocassional traditional bowmaking sessions (ex. Our Wandat Green Corn 2014)