American Indian art exhibit travels to Plymouth County

Robert Morris paints American Indians from across the country using soft pastels on sandpaper as part of his "The First Americans" collection, which is on display at the Plymouth County Historical Museum through Friday. Morris will be available to meet the public at a Chamber After 5 reception Thursday at the museum. [Click to enlarge]

Artist Robert Morris captures the faces of American Indians from across the country, something he began 10 years ago.

"I want to paint one Indian from every tribe," Morris said. "I travel all summer and paint all winter."

An exhibit featuring 16 of Morris' chalk paintings from his collection "The First Americans" opens at 1 p.m. Wednesday and runs through Friday at the Plymouth County Historical Museum. The museum is open 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. or in the morning by appointment.

Artist Robert Morris thumbs through his portfolio, which began in 1990 when he started painting. Morris' current project is painting American Indians. Sixteen pieces of that collection is on exhibit now through Friday at the Plymouth County Historical Museum. [Click to enlarge]

The public will have a chance to meet Morris, a Marshalltown native, during a Chamber After 5 reception, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday at the museum, 335 First Ave. S.W., in Le Mars.

The artist will also deliver keynote remarks after a 7 p.m. program highlighting National History Day gold medal winners Thursday at the museum.

When he started painting American Indians in 1998, Morris said he thought he could be done in three years by completing 100 a year.

Artist Robert Morris' collection "The First Americans" includes paintings of individual American Indians. This, his first painting done in 1998, is of a woman from the Haliwa-Saponi tribe in eastern North Carolina. Morris plans to paint one individual from each of the 300 American Indian tribes registered with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. [Click to enlarge]

There are 300 American Indian tribes registered with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

"It's been 10 years, I've worn out three cars and I've still only done 100," Morris said.

He photographs American Indians, with their permission, whom he meets on reservations, at powwows or in passing, then he returns to his Las Vegas, N.M. home and paints them.

Morris' theme for his paintings is "How the Indian Looks at the Beginning of the Millennium."

For the first portrait he completed in 1998 of a woman from the Haliwa-Saponi tribe in North Carolina, Morris said he used acrylic on canvas.

That kind of painting took about five days, which was too long Morris decided. His subsequent American Indian portraits are painted on 400-grit sandpaper using soft pastels. They take two to three days to complete, Morris said.

Every stroke in his paintings is done based on opposites -- soft lines versus hard lines, shadow versus light -- Morris said.

"I never paint a nose. I paint a shadow and a light," he said. "I'm really not an artist. I'm a painter."

Morris didn't start as a traditional artist, but rather as a dental ceramist making individual teeth, but that met his artistic needs for many years, he said.

"It was like sculpting," Morris said. "I had no desire to paint."

After 18 years, he decided it was time to try something new so for a while he owned an art supply store.

Then in 1990, Morris began painting.

Since then he has done a variety of pieces from making and painting cowboy furniture, to painting saddles, portraits and animals.

"Boy, it's been a real exciting life," Morris said.

Judy Bowman, museum administrator, said she brought Morris to Plymouth County because his American Indian paintings were a good fit with the museum's own American Indian collection.

"Indians lived in Iowa," Bowman said. "A lot of the older people in this county have stories of Native Americans."