Artwork copyright Rick Bartow. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Little Hawk Against the Sun, 1999

Rick Bartow
(American | Wiyot, born 1946, died 2016)

Location: Seattle Public Schools, Seattle

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Rick Bartow's Little Hawk Against the Sun is based on the artist’s belief that seeing a red-tailed hawk is a good sign and that it is a special creature. The red-tailed hawk is also a very common bird in the coastal Pacific Northwest. Bartow notes “a lot of things just line up with the hawk because they are always around. I give them importance in my life. A lot of times they’ll fly in just at the end of the day. There’s a lot of illumination at that time and they sit up high on the last rays of the sun.” Bartow is known for his artworks of transformative and spiritual figures.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Seattle School District.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Celebrated Native American Wiyot artist Rick Bartow (1946-2016) is known for his expressive artworks about transformation, spiritual figures, and self-portraits. He often contrasted the physical and spiritual existence, showing figures in transformation between the human and animal worlds. He is an important leader in contemporary Native American art.

Bartow was born and lived most of his life on the Oregon coast in Newport. He graduated from Western Oregon State College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Secondary Art Education in 1969. He was drafted into the U.S. Army and served in the Vietnam War from 1969–1971 as a teletype operator, returning home with post-traumatic stress disorder. Bartow was also a life-long musician and songwriter, and an enrolled member of the Mad River Band of Wiyot Indians (Northern California). His art can be found in over a hundred collections and museums. A pair of monumental sculptures by Bartow stand outside of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C.