Overview
Imagining the Native American Native California Artists Frank Day (Konkow Maidu)
Author(s) :
Frank Tuttle, (Yuki/Concow Maidu) Artist, Educator, and Ceremonial Leader
Lesson Contributor/Editor/Format by Maggie Peters (Yurok and Karuk), Native American Studies Model Curriculum Learning Specialist Humboldt County Office of Education
Grade(s) : 5
Suggested Amount of Time : 75 minutes
Curriculum Themes:
- History
- Cultural Strengths
- Relationship to Place
- Cross Curricular Integration
Learning Goals
Recognize Frank Day’s influence as a foundational figure in modern Native California art.
Learn why Frank Day was encouraged to paint.
Gain an understanding of how an artist uses his personal experience and his personal interpretation of oral tradition as inspiration.
Define the context for Frank Day’s use of large, centralized figures in his paintings.
Lesson Overview
In this lesson, students are introduced to Frank Day, a key figure in the development of modern Native California art and widely regarded as the “grandfather” of the movement. A member of the Koncow Maidu tribe, Day used his deep cultural knowledge, passed down from his father and community elders, to create art that bridges traditional Maidu storytelling with modern visual expression. Although largely self-taught, Day painted over 200 images that reflect a lifetime of personal experience, tribal memory, and cultural pride.
Students begin by learning about the historic and cultural role of art in Native California—long before contact with European settlers. Then, through close looking and discussion of several of Day’s paintings, they will explore how he used symbolism, scale, and natural imagery—such as deer, sturgeon, and roundhouses—to represent central figures and stories from Maidu tradition. Students will also see how Day’s paintings often convey moments of transformation, ceremony, or memory, connecting past events to ongoing cultural practices.
Throughout the lesson, students will reflect on essential themes such as identity, cultural continuity, and the use of personal experience in artistic expression. They will learn how an artist like Frank Day can act as a visual historian, preserving stories and ceremonies through paint at a time when many tribal practices were under threat of being completely erased as a result of colonization, assimilation and cultural eradication. Special attention is given to the cultural context of Day’s work—his relationship with traditional lifeways, his mentorship of young Native artists, and his legacy in helping establish platforms for Native voices in contemporary art.
By the end of the lesson, students will have a deeper understanding of Frank Day’s life and work, the visual language he used to express cultural values, and the significance of Native artists in shaping and preserving history through art.
Teacher Background
When teaching about Native California, it is essential to approach the topic with respect, cultural humility, and historical accuracy. The story of Frank Day (Koncow Maidu) offers educators an opportunity to explore Indigenous resilience, creativity, and knowledge-keeping through the lens of art. Day’s life and work remind us that Native cultures in California are not only part of the past—they are living, dynamic, and continuing to evolve.
Frank Day’s deep connection to his tribal heritage and community shaped his development as an artist, cultural bearer, and educator. Raised in the eastern foothills of Butte County, he learned traditional stories and values from his father, a respected Maidu leader. Although Day later attended boarding schools like Greenville Indian School and Bacone College, which were part of broader policies of assimilation and cultural suppression, he held tightly to his identity and cultural memory. As an adult, he became a mentor to younger Native people seeking to reclaim their Maidu heritage, passing down songs, dances, and practices that might otherwise have been lost.
Educators should recognize that Native California history includes both cultural richness and a legacy of trauma—from forced removals and boarding schools to systemic efforts to erase Native identities. Frank Day’s paintings—often based on oral history, memory, and ceremony—offer visual testimony to that survival. His work serves as a powerful teaching tool, not only for understanding Koncow Maidu traditions but also for exploring how Native people continue to adapt and express their worldviews in contemporary ways. His paintings are viewed as unique, important and of wide social value. Day’s artistic efforts served to increase awareness of central California native cultures such as the Koncow and neighboring tribal groups. Importantly, the interest in Day’s work served to develop venues other than strictly anthropological and ethnographic outlets to reaffirm the survival of indigenous California tribes. “Once in a while I take up color and paint a little bit because if I do not do this, all things will be forgotten,” Frank Day said of his work (n.d., National Library of Medicine, MD).
Encourage students to engage with Native art as a living culture. When discussing figures like Day, emphasize that Indigenous artists often carry multiple roles: as historians, storytellers, and community leaders. Day painted more than 200 works, many inspired by his lived experiences and cultural knowledge. These paintings helped shift Native California art out of strictly anthropological settings and into galleries, museums, and academic discourse—places where Indigenous voices had long been absent.
Educators are encouraged to teach about Native artists like Frank Day not as isolated figures, but as part of a wider network of intergenerational knowledge, collaboration, and creative exchange. Day’s work—and his influence on future Native artists—demonstrates how Indigenous people continue to resist erasure, affirm cultural identity, and contribute meaningfully to the artistic and intellectual life of California and beyond.
Any description of Frank Day as a personality reveals a surprisingly broad social network. This type of social network describes a general pattern of interconnectedness found between peers - artistic or otherwise, native and non-native organizations and institutions that contribute to the overall success of California Native American artists of which Frank Day was an early example. Today, Day is often honored as a knowledgeable Concow tribal elder representing a valued language and cultural resource for college and university researchers. Day seemed to confidently bridge the domains of artist, cultural bearer, and visual historian. As a living connection between these domains, Day was supported by anthropologists, gallery and museum curators, educators and community cultural revitalization advocates. By honoring artists like Frank Day in the classroom, we validate Native perspectives and create space for deeper, more inclusive understandings of history, art, and community.