Artist hopes to honor indigenous cultures

STORY AND PHOTOS BY SIANDHARA BONNET

Matt Lanz has always told people he’s a real Indian and he’s a real cowboy.

“I can tell you why because a cowboy and Indian, if they needed it, they had it, and if they didn’t need it, they didn’t have it,” he said. “They saved and they worked at it both. They have a kind of a mutual parallel.”

Lanz takes the same approach to his sculpting — he’s in it for the work, for the art and for sharing the stories he’s trying to tell.

Lanz said he had a Hunka ceremony in Wagner, South Dakota, on the Yankton Reservation in 1989 or 1990. It’s an official ceremony where he’s basically adopted and recognized as an honorary member of the tribe. Before that, he lived in Minnesota. After Wagner, he lived in Spearfish and now lives in a tent between Hot Springs and Custer along Beaver Creek.

Lanz said he’s working toward building his own studio along with a small cabin. He and his youngest son are pecking away at the land building fences, making a corral for the four horses and other small additions.

“I’m respecting the land,” Lanz said. “All the while that I’m doing this, I always keep in mind the 1868 Treaty. This is not my home, this doesn’t belong to me. … I’m only a good steward.”

In addition to a modest studio, Lanz hopes to build a powwow arbor to host an annual powwow. All the while, Lanz is following his passion for art and telling stories, especially the Indigenous stories. He hopes to incorporate Indigenous history and culture into pieces throughout the Black Hills, particularly through a project called “Sentinels of the Black Hills.”

“It needed to be done a long, long time ago,” he said. “It’s something that ought to be done, I think, just to balance out the presidents, the governors and of course there’s the big huge atrocity of Crazy Horse out there.”

Lanz said the sentinels could be scattered throughout the hills and have historical Indigenous People. He said he’d like to honor the Lakota and Cheyenne, but would start with Black Elk, which he said would cost about $68,000 - $86,000 to procure as a life-size bronze monument. Other concepts include Conquering Bear, Iron Shell, Two Moons, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Gall and Two Strikes.

All he’s missing now is a patron.

“I’ve been at it for so very, very long. I’ve just been down and slogged through a very tough and arduous path for it seems forever.” The unofficial beginning of the Sentinels is the Water Carrying Woman who will act as an ambassador to the Sentinels. The statue will stand at the Moccasin Springs Spa in Hot Springs. Owner Kara Haden commissioned the piece.

Lanz said he’s putting out a call to patrons for the Sentinels and other projects he has in mind. Lanz can be contacted at whitestarstudiosd@gmail.com. ▤