Overview
Imagining the Native American Native California Artists Frank Tuttle (Yuki/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 : 80 minutes
Curriculum Themes:
- History
- Cultural Strengths
- Relationship to Place
- Cross Curricular Integration
Learning Goals
Students will understand that through artwork, artists share cultural backgrounds, insights, and with Frank Tuttle’s case, how he explores his self-inquiry of the dilemma of Native California peoples in the sociopolitical experience of California.
Students will learn about important maintenance of cultural lifeways in Native California communities while being a citizen of a larger socio political entity.
Students will learn about how the native people of northern and central California experienced the same historical tragedies as other native peoples of the U.S.
Lesson Overview
This lesson introduces students to the powerful role of Native California artists as cultural storytellers and social commentators, using the life and work of Frank Tuttle (Yuki/Konkow Maidu) as a central case study. Students will explore how Native artists convey identity, cultural resilience, historical trauma, and personal narrative through visual language, particularly within the cultural context of California tribes.
The lesson begins with a brief but impactful introduction to key vocabulary—historical trauma, intergenerational trauma, identity, and cultural context—helping to anchor the lesson in concepts that will surface again and again in Tuttle’s work. Students are also given the opportunity to choose how they will take notes, using note paper or an artistic note taking handout featuring the art of Frank Tuttle, setting up a personalized learning experience that encourages active engagement.
As the focus narrows to Frank Tuttle, students are prompted to reflect on their own relationships with art and identity. They are encouraged to draw connections between artists’ personal experiences and the broader social or historical themes that their work communicates. Tuttle’s background and tribal affiliation are introduced alongside foundational questions like, “What can we learn from artists?” and “What is identity?”—questions that frame the viewing of his work not just as appreciation but as inquiry.
From there, the class examines a series of Tuttle’s paintings, with each image unfolding deeper layers of meaning. The first set of paintings introduces ceremonial life, such as the Brush Dance and Roundhouse dances, and asks students to attend to both visual and emotional elements—setting, figures, symbolism, and atmosphere. These initial artworks serve as a springboard for conversations about cultural continuity, family traditions, and community identity.
As students move into more layered and sculptural works, they are introduced to Tuttle’s use of nontraditional materials—cut wood, torn paper, shaped panels—and the symbolic impact of these choices. Through pieces like Colma and Erasure, students grapple with more complex historical themes, particularly the legacies of the California Gold Rush and Native boarding schools. These works provoke important conversations about trauma, loss, invisibility, and memory.
The artwork of the Ooti (Acorn Spirit), shift the tone toward cultural revitalization and the honoring of traditional knowledge and figures of respect within Native communities. Tuttle’s creative blending of sculpture, painting, and material culture highlights not only a personal vision but a deep connection to ancestral practices.
The lesson culminates with the painting Mountain Dance, a visually rich synthesis of Tuttle’s themes and materials, reinforcing the idea that Native identity is living, layered, and resilient. Students share personal reflections, connect their interpretations, and engage in peer dialogue to consolidate their understanding.
Finally, a visual quiz rounds out the lesson, allowing students to review images and ideas from the lesson and confirm their understanding of key concepts in a low-pressure, interactive format.
Overall, this lesson offers a meaningful exploration of Native California identity through the lens of one artist’s deeply rooted and inventive practice. It invites students to look beyond the aesthetic surface and into the deeper stories held in materials, form, and memory—stories that challenge historical erasure, affirm cultural strength, and reimagine the Native American experience through a Native lens.
Teacher Background
Visual artists have long played an essential role as social commentators—bearing witness, recording, and interpreting the human condition in the face of historical, political, and cultural change. Throughout history, artists have used their creative voices to challenge injustice, question dominant narratives, and advocate for visibility and transformation.
Artists like Francisco Goya and Pablo Picasso captured the brutality of war in their respective works The Third of May 1808 and Guernica, offering visceral responses to the violence of their times. Jean-Michel Basquiat critiqued systemic racism and economic inequality, while Judy Chicago reframed women’s history through a feminist lens. These artists, among many others, exemplify how visual art can serve as a mirror and a megaphone for society.
Native American artists have also consistently functioned as cultural and political commentators. From the earliest forms of symbolic resistance—such as the weaving of colonial histories into wampum belts—to energetic ledgerbook art created by Plains artists/warriors during forced relocation, Native artists have used visual language to document and critique their experiences of colonization, erasure, and resilience. The recent work of Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s, Maps, the contentious place/role of the Native American in the political, social and imaginal landscape of America still proves to be a fertile ground for self-revelation, debate and storytelling.
A particularly rich and distinct chapter in this legacy emerged in California during the mid-20th century. Informed by both Indigenous traditions and contemporary art movements, a cohort of Native California artists stepped onto the broader art stage. These artists did not simply adopt modern techniques—they indigenized them, weaving together the threads of ancestral memory, local histories, and spiritual perspectives to comment on the place of Native people in modern America. From vibrant urban areas and California’s university system, Native California artists soon created for themselves what has continued to be a unique reflection of Native California’s diverse and ancient relationship to the physical, social and spiritual landscape.
Central to this movement is Frank LaPena (Nomtipom Wintu), a pioneering artist, poet, scholar, and cultural revitalist. Through his work and teaching, LaPena emphasized the sacred and ceremonial importance of art, advocating for its role in cultural continuity and intergenerational healing. He played a foundational role in defining California as a unique and vital region within the broader context of Native American art, differentiating it from Southwest and Plains traditions.
LaPena was joined by other influential artists such as Frank Day, Harry Fonseca, Jean LaMarr, and Brian Tripp, each representing different California tribal communities. These artists were deeply rooted in their cultural knowledge and drew from personal, tribal, and collective experiences to create work that resonated both locally and nationally. Their art served not only as a personal or aesthetic statement, but also as a communal offering—a continuation of oral traditions through visual means.
Importantly, these artists cultivated more than an artistic movement; they sustained a cultural kinship grounded in mutual respect, mentorship, and shared identity. This collective spirit elevated their work beyond individual expression into a collaborative and enduring legacy.
In understanding visual art as a form of social commentary, it is essential for educators and students to recognize that Native California art is not just reactive—it is visionary. It holds space for cultural sovereignty, spiritual inquiry, and ongoing storytelling in a landscape that has long marginalized Native voices.
This lesson empowers students to see art not merely as decoration or abstraction, but as a powerful act of cultural affirmation, resistance, and communication—especially through the lens of Native California artists who continue to challenge and redefine the American artistic narrative.