46, 47, 48 David Martine

David Martine at Shinnecock exhibit. NMAI, 2009, Stephen Lang photo

By David Bunn Martine

I

t was while I was studying art at the University of Oklahoma, Norman that I grew to more deeply appreciate the history of my mother’s Shinnecock/Montauk, Fort Sill-Chiricahua Apache heritage.

Then, while attending The Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe a few years later, studying under Otelle Loloma and Linda Lomaheftewa, I began to synthesize this knowledge into a coherent style that I would go on to continue to develop to the present. While my degrees are in advertising design, art education, and museum sciences, I utilize my historical knowledge as fuel for my creative activities.

Today I am grateful to the Creator for allowing me to continue in the arts and progress my style and development. While living with my grandmother on my home reservation—selling pencil drawings of animals, sailing ships, and Indian portraits 46 • Fine Art Magazine • Fall 2009

at our family arts and crafts shop—I grew up knowing about my grandfather’s two fathers, Chin-Chee, a warrior who fought with Geronimo and died before the surrender and my other great-grandfather, Martine, who, as Apache scout with his cousin, Kayitah, helped persuade Geronimo to surrender for the final time in 1886, resulting in the long years held as prisoners of war until 1913. How his son Charles Martine Jr., my grandfather, put himself through Hampton Institute and dealt with the boarding school system and excelling despite great difficulty—these things became a natural part of my background. I always knew I also had a distant relative, Allan Houser, the famous Apache sculptor, who I came to know and admire for his achievements and influence while living in the west.

My family heritage is rich in the arts, from my Shinnecock/Montauk great-grandfather, Charles Sumner Bunn, a professional guide/ hunter and shorebird decoy carver and also

David Martine

PHOTO COURTESY NEWSDAY & D. MARTINE

A Life in Historical Realism

Powdawe - Shinnecock Whale hunt of the 17th. century, Oil on masonite panel 2005

Shinnecock (Potedaup) Whale Ceremony, 17th Century, Oil on masonite panel, 2005

Taza - Son of Cochise, Chiricahua Apache, Oil on canvas, 2003

Shinnecock Indian Man of the 18th Century, Oil on mansonite panel, 2005

to my renderings without being too stiff and overworked. I have not had the luxury of figure models during most of my career so I have had to work by assembling images and designing by sketching the compositions from reference material. This is especially true for my historical scenes at our Shinnecock

Wyandanch - Montauk Sachem - Ca. 17th Century - Acrylic on canvas - 2007

museum which depict the six cultural phases of Long Island Indian history—from the Paleolithic period to the present.

“Today I am grateful to the Creator for allowing me to continue in the arts and progress my style and development.”

Shinnecock Nation Cultural Center and Museum, Shinnecock Reservation, Southampton, NY. Fine Art Magazine • Fall 2009 • 47

PHOTO COURTESY NEWSDAY & D. MARTINE

my father, Thomas Siklos, a Hungarian music director and voice teacher. Charles Bunn’s skills were rarely equaled either as a hunter or wood carver. His ancestors were whalers and seamen and taught the English settlers how to hunt the ‘Right’ whales in the 17th century. My Hungarian grandfather was a famous architect in Budapest who was knighted in the Order of St. Sylvester by the Pope for his work on behalf of the Catholic Church. My mother was a classical singer who sang many concerts in different parts of the country, studied voice culture with former Metropolitan Opera members and studied painting and drawing in college.

This bac kground inf or m ed m y consciousness that the arts would be central to my adult life. I also enjoy wood carving as well as creating in the two-dimensional— pencil, pastel, ink, oil, acrylic and gouache.

I have always found the most satisfaction in classical realism and careful rendering. Some of this comes from my mother’s brother David who was a photographic retoucher and woodcarver. Illustration and narrative historical scenes have been a primary occupation in small scale pieces or in large scale murals—oil or acrylic on Masonite—at our Shinnecock Nation Cultural Center and Museum at which I am Director/Curator.

My primary art influences have been N.C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth, Allan Houser, Norman Rockwell, Jamie Wyeth, the great Dutch Masters of the past and many of the great Renaissance Italian Masters.

I always try to imbue a sense of life-like realism, a spark of movement and crispness

W

orking in collaboration with other museums, scholars and archaeological associations, I have tried to capture the essences of each time period, not only for educational purposes but to show the Shinnecock/MontaukLong Island Algonquian cultures to their best, most dignified advantages, retaining accuracy, but trying to show dramatic power through color and detail. I believe it important to not conform to the stereotyped image of our people. Native American cultures have been burdened by incorrect impressions disseminated for years by the mass media and poor educational content.

The museum sciences have enabled me to incorporate art with exhibition design, conservation, collections management, public relations, fund-raising, event planning, educational programming and a multitude of areas that encompass the arts and cultural issues. The Shinnecock Nation Cultural Center and Museum has three major exhibits.

“A Walk With the People” is a tour through the historical periods through murals, artifacts and taxidermy specimens; “People Of The Shore: The Maritime History of The Place of Shells” consists of three kiosks containing graphic images and texts in three themes: the history and importance of wampum, ancient fishing techniques, and the importance of whaling in the ancient and recent past. The third major exhibit is “My Spirit Dances Forever,” featuring the bronze sculptures of the Lakota people by the famous contemporary sculptor Dave McGary.

The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian George Gustav Heye Center recently asked the Shinnecock museum to participate in their recent educational program, “Waters That Are Never Still – The Way of the Wampum.” The program consisted of table exhibits and representatives from the major Native peoples who fabricated the wampum beads from the purple and white quahog clam and whelk shells, namely the Shinnecock, Narragansett, Wampanoag, Mahegan, and Hodenasaunee peoples. It was a privilege to participate– in this event and share a very important aspect of Shinnecock and Montauk history with children and adults who attended the educational workshops dealing with the production, trade and use of wampum both prior and post-European contact. This will be an event long remembered by those of us representing the Native peoples who were closely associated with this great art form in its historical contexts and in its contemporary uses.

48 • Fine Art Magazine • Fall 2009

“Iron Hail” Bronze by Dave McGary - “My Spirit Dances Forever”, donated by Frederick DeMatteis, bronze sculpture exhibition at Shinnecock Nation Museum and Cultural Center

David Martine at Shinnecock Museum exhibit at NMAI program “Waters That Are Never Still - The Way of the Wampum” , Stephen Lang photo.