Pendleton Blanket artwork by Jim Yellowhawk
South Dakota artist Jim Yellowhawk working in his studio
About the artist: Jim Yellowhawk is an enrolled member of the Itazipco Band of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, with Onodoga/Iroquois heritage through his mother. He graduated from Marion College, Indiana and also studied at Columbus School of Art and Design in Ohio. His work encompasses many different media, including dance. “Traditional spirituality is woven into my daily life, work, practices and way of being,” says Yellowhawk.
Jim Yellowhawk, Black Hills,
South Dakota
REZ13 photographed the Pendleton buffalo ‘robe’ blanket, designed by Jim Yellowhawk, earlier this month in the South Okanagan Valley. This blanket original design consists of four buffalo in Red, Yellow, White and Black gathered around a medicine wheel, pointing in the sacred Four Directions. The Lakota people depended on Pte, the bison, for food, clothing and shelter, and honored them as “The Buffalo People.” In this design, artist Jim Yellowhawk embraces Mitakuye Oyasin (“We are all related”), a Lakota belief that all living creatures are family, and can live in harmony and peace.
Part of the Pendleton Blanket’s Company Legendary Collection, the Buffalo Nation blanket design honors stories and symbols of Native American cultures.
See our Pendleton Buffalo blanket story featuring the photoshoot and artwork of Jim Yellowhawk.
Jim Yellowhawk with his father