by Kathryn Retzler
Exclusive to the San Juan Silver Stage, all rights reserved.

Kirkland, New Mexico [Summer 2004]
 

ORELAND C. JOE SR. is a fascinating man. He is cosmopolitan, having worked and studied in Europe and the Orient as well as the American southwest. He is multi-cultural, the son of a Southern Ute artistic father and musical Navajo mother. He is a family man, and like their father, his four sons and three daughters are also artistically gifted. “My oldest daughter won a blue ribbon at Indian Market her first time there, and she sold all her pieces before noon! And, when all my kids are home, they like to take over my showroom so they can all play music.”  It is not surprising that when Oreland was young, he played in an Indian rock band.

But most of all, Oreland is an artist. And, although he sketches, draws and paints, it is sculpture, both additive and subtractive, that holds his heart. 

“It began when I was in Europe in 1978 as a hoop dancer with a dance troop as part of a cultural exchange program. I visited Versailles and The Louvre Museum. And, I took home impressions. I couldn’t wait to get started experimenting. It was my art teacher who really got me started on stone, though. He gave me three small lumps of stone...and it went from there.” 

Today, Oreland is one of eight members of the elite Indigenous Sculpture Society and the first Native American to be elected to the prestigious Cowboy Artists of America, where his work has won numerous gold and silver medals and in 2002, “Best of Show” at the annual exhibition in Phoenix, Ariz. His work appears in top museums, private collections and galleries in America. 

Most of Oreland’s work is in stone, “about 80 percent of it,”  he noted, although his monumental bronzes are world renowned. On the day we visited at his studio in Kirtland, NM, Oreland’s apprentices, Anthony E. Begay and Nolan Charley (who have been with him 10 and eight years, respectively), were working on a Navajo code talker to be cast in bronze. The piece, which was commissioned by the city of Prescott, Ariz., was designed by Oreland who sketched it and calculated the measurements. He then turned over the clay sculpting to Anthony and Nolan, both accomplished sculptors themselves. When the piece goes to the foundry in Prescott, Oreland will supervise the final stages. 

From start to finish, he stresses quality, materials and detail. Every piece receives his personal attention. Oreland often works on three or four at one time. “I like to come into the studio in the morning and browse, figure out what problems there are, if any, and work on those.”  That day, he was working on two alabaster pieces, both with contrasting oiled and textured finishes, and a white marble bust. A finished bronze of a Ute woman holding a basket of corn stood on his work bench. 

In its final stages, Oreland’s red alabaster bust, “Words of the Holy Man” was a hauntingly beautiful example of his work...and his heart. The face, exquisitely rendered to the smallest detail, speaks of times past, a culture remembered and held dear.

“I would have felt comfortable back in the early 1800s,” Oreland said, “before the coming of the Anglo society‚—what the different cultures did, how they interacted. It was a warrior society—medicine men, hunters, warriors, women who performed traditional daily chores.” (All are subjects of his work). “This is not art, it is telling a story of how people lived, the Ute people of Colorado.”

For Oreland, this is the very essence of his...and of all art. Art is a way of communicating, of telling stories, of preserving history and a way of life. “Art is one universal language,” he explained. “It’s just the cultures that are different.”  To that end, Oreland utilizes all that he learned studying Greek, Italian, English, French and Oriental techniques. “The images are different, but the message is the same. Just, in this case, it is Native American.”

Oreland never stops learning, assimilating, embracing new ideas and new artistic experiences. “One of my interests is Egyptian art,” he said. “My next trip will be to Egypt. And after that, maybe the American Pacific northwest.”

Wherever he goes, whatever he learns, can only add to Oreland Joe’s ability to tell a story in stone or clay, wood or bronze. In the tradition of his people, Oreland is a consummate storyteller, only in his case, the story is a highly textured, touchable, tangible tale.

Photo Captions

1. Oreland Joe outside at his Kirkland, NM studio. SJPG photo James Burke.

2. Sunshine by Oreland Joe. Photo by Dale W. Anderson © 2003.

3. The artist in his studio putting finishing touches on a red alabaster sculpture, “Words of a Holy Man.” SJPG photo Kathryn Retzler.

4. Coral Beads by Oreland Joe. Photo by Dale W. Anderson © 2003.