Pgge 8
December 7, 2006
Spilyay Tymoo, Wgrm Springs, Oregon
Howlak Tichum
A p o lo n i a S u s a n a S a n t o s
September 30, 1954 —
November 17, 2006
A polonia Susana Santos,
known to m any by several
names, stepped from this world
to the next in the wee hours of
the morning on Friday, Novem
ber 17, 2006. Susana was sur
rounded by many members of
her family and her loved ones.
A member of the Tygh Band
and Yakama Nation, her ances
tral homelands are located along
the Deschutes River at Tlxni
(Falls of a Woman’s Hair) also
called Shears Bridge. She held
great pride in her traditional fish
ing family and encouraged all
who fished to respect the river
and the salmon. She was an
enrolled member of the Con
federated Tribes o f Warm
Springs.
An accomplished artist for
30 years, Susana worked in sev
eral mediums including: large
scale p ain tin gs, sculpture,
silkscreen, graphic design, ce
ramics, photography and poetry
writing.
Her work has appeared in 26
gallery exhibitions, and three
traveling exhibitions including
Artistas Indigenas U.S. Tour in
Leningrad and Moscow, Russia;
the Pacific Northwest Lewis and
Clark Traveling Exhibition; and
the ‘Honor the Earth’ Indig
enous Peoples Tour. She partici
pated yearly in the Tribal Art
Show at the Museum at Warm
Springs.
For over 20 years, Santos has
Apolonia Susana Santos
been an active organizer of en
vironmental summits and cul
tural events. These public and
intertribal events were educa
tional and civic responses to leg
islation on indigenous peoples’
and broader civil liberties pro
tections. Santos worked as a
Green Peace Fellow on national
fisheries legislation and as a pub
lic education campaigner.
Susana established the Sacred
Earth Coalition in the late 1980s.
Her mission was to bring to
gether Native and non-Native
activists and artists to work for
the protection of the Mt. Hood
areas from destination resort
development and the logging of
Finóla Hill.
Together with the Coalition,
she established ‘Culture Shock
Gallery’ to showcase the work
of Native artists, women and
MEMORIES IN STONE
Custom Designed Memorials
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For Over 18 Years
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other disenfranchised groups.
After receiving a Bachelor of
Fine Arts Degree from the Or
egon College of Art and Craft
in Portland, Susana returned to
the reservation to try to help her
community.
And help she did. Santos es
tablished the Kah-Nee-Ta Gal
lery of Art at the High Desert
Resort and Casino encouraging
local artists to not only present
their work in this public forum
but also to stretch and grow ar
tistically. She established a Na
tive youth summer arts program
coordinated with the Oregon
College of Art and Craft for
Warm Springs youth to study in
Portland. This program has
grown to include Native youth
in Portland and other Oregon
Tribes.
As art and cultural liaison for
the Warm Springs tribe, Susana
authored “Tribal Initiatives” that
include her vision for an Artists
ATllage Complex with artist
painting and printmaking stu
dios, sound, film and video stu
dios and an Indigenous Medi
cine Lodge. Her vision also in
cludes a healing symposium and
gathering o f healers to take
place at Kah-Nee-Ta in 2007.
She has inspired many people
in Warm Springs and through
out the Northwest to come to
geth er and com plete these
projects.
Santos’ art work and writings
appeared in several publications:
‘We, the People’ NYC 1987,
Faces of a Reservation, Oregon
Historical Society 1988,
Women Of Power Magazine,
1990 and The Indigenous
Woman Magazine, 1995.
Her artistic awards include:
2006 Potlatch Fund Award for
Native Arts,
2006 Com m unity Spirit
Award, F irst Peoples Fund,
Rapid City, South Dakota, 2004
Spirit of the Arts Award, The
Museum at Warm Springs; 1982
Births
Timberline Purchase Award -
The Museum at Warm Springs;
circa 1980, second place award
- UNESCO Visitation, Univer
sity of California Davis, Calif.
Susana attended the San
Francisco Art Institute (1979-
82), and earned a Bachelor of
Fine Art’s Degree (BFA) from
the Oregon College of Art and
Craft in Pordand, Oregon (1998-
2001 ) .
Apolonia Susana leaves a
large family and hundreds of
friends who loved and respected
her. Her generosity of heart and
spirit touched everyone she met.
As an artist, activist, community
leader and loving friend, she
wove these parts of herself into
a remarkable woman who al
ways thought of her People and
family first. From her signature
hats and contagious giggle to her
Warrior like determination, she
leaves us all with a call to ac
tion.
Susana wrote of her art, her
illness and her hope for the fu
ture generations...
“I create art in an effort to
manifest and explore the human
spirit and to heal the ‘wounded
spirits’ of our people. To seek
higher vision is an ancient way
to m anifest our art through
spiritual quests, to understand
natural phenomena and the ani
mal world. I only hope that my
art serves to depict strong im
ages of Nature, Women and our
M en, in order to recapture
memory. Perhaps when we re
member our clan families, our
Relationship to Mother Earth
and to each other; our strength,
art and cultural attributes will,
in time, regenerate.
“I am just boiling inside. I
want to explode. I have to tell
these stories in my paintings. As
an artist, I have to take respon
sibility to rid myself of this pain,
and the impact on the people
who are seeing it. I don’t always
live in this world. I live in the
other world. That is why I paint.
I am trying to document history,
document us. To document we
are alive... How you live and
conduct your life is a part of
the solution. Only when men
start to respect women is it go
ing to happen. I want to see a
strong land base back, a living
band of people. I won’t settle
for anything else in my life
time. .. You can’t make compro
mises anymore. You can’t settle
for less.”
Her family and loved ones
include: mother Lena Teewee
Santos, sister Juanita Villa and
her husband Gary Villa, sister
Irene Jim enez and her fiancé
David Felver, and sister Theresa
Howe; brother Rueben Santos
and his wife Paula; brother Rick
Santos and wife Sue; brother
Albert Santos and wife Brenda.
N ieces:
D onetta
Sm ith
Squim phen, R achel Santos,
Alyssa Santos, Janelle Santos,
and Ashley Jimenez. Nephews:
Buddy Denny, Loren Denny,
Richie Denny, Gary Villa, Jr.,
Aaron Vasquez, Bobby Howe,
Carl Howe and John Howe,
D onovan Santos and w ife
Makoni, Chip Santos, Brandon
Santos, Ian Santos and Kierin
Santos, Albert Santos Jr. and
wife Jennifer, Joel Santos and
Karla Kalama, Issaic Santos and
Anthony Santos, and her Life
Partner Cheri Hyde.
Great nieces and nephews:
K iara K alam a-Santos, A lyia
Vasquez, Angie Stacona and
Rachel Denny; James Santos,
Scout Santos, Ryan Denny and
Sean Denny. And numerous
great-great nieces and nephews.
Other members of Susana’s
family who have gone before
her are Carlos Santos, Margie
D ansuka Sm ith, M ichael
Santos, Eligio Santos, Donovan
Burns and Grandmother Mabel
Eyle (Taktwipum).
H unter Dean
Bearsford-T'olt^
Joseph Foltz and Kaleja
Mae Castiileja are pleased
to announce the birth of
their son Hunter Dean
Bears ford-Foltz, born No
vember 22, 2006. Hunter
joins brother Jermaine.
The maternal grandpar
ents are Julie Seelatsee and
Lee Arquette, and Jose
Castiileja. The paternal
grandparents are Esther
G eorge and R ichard
Garcia-Foltz.
Toby Ryan Bowden
Bryce Bow den and
Heather Gossling of Cul
ver are pleased to an
nounce their son Toby
Ryan Bowden, born No
vember 26.
M athias O wen-Jaj M artin
G regory M artin and
M adeline Jim o f Warm
Springs are pleased to an
nounce the birth of their
son M athias O wen-Jay
Martin, born November
20, 2006.
The father’s parents are
H erm an M artin and
Shirley M artin o f Fort
Wingate, New Mexico.
The mother’s parents
are Barbara and Bruce Jim
of Warm Springs.
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form ation call the m u
seum at 553-3331.
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