Douglas Miles
| Douglas Miles | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nationality | San Carlos Apache-Akimel O'odham |
| Field | Street art, , stencil art, painting, printmaking |
| Movement | |
| Influenced by | Anime, punk |
| Influenced | Douglas Miles, Jr. |
Douglas Miles is a San Carlos Apache-Akimel O'odham painter and printmaker from Arizona, who founded Apache Skateboards and Apache Skate Team.
Background
Douglas Miles grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, then moved back to the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona. He drew images from cartoons, sci-fi, and comic books and attended the Al Collins Graphic Design School in Phoenix. From 1978 to 1980, Miles attended the Boston Alternative High School, when he created street art.
Artwork and Apache Skateboards
Watching his son practice skateboarding, Miles drew corollaries between skateboarding and the Apache warrior tradition, as both involved increase concentration, stamina, and the ability to withstand pain. After finding no skate decks available relevant to Apache culture, Miles painted a skateboard deck himself. He gave it to his son, and this spawned Apache Skateboards.
Apache Skateboards is the first known Native American-owned skateboard company. Native artists working on the project with Miles include Razelle Bennally; Tracy Polk Jr.; Douglas Miles, Jr.; Keith Secola; Reuben Ringlero; Irwin Lewis; Tony Steele; and Tashadawn Hastings. As Apache Skate Team, the group gives skating demonstrations, organizes skateboard contests and concerts, and curates art shows around the country, and especially on Indian reservations in the American Southwest.
"Painting on the skateboards ... opens up a whole new medium for me," Miles told Shade magazine. "My skateboards are both traditional and contemporary by design. Are they fine art or pop art? Why can't they be both?” He emphasizes Native American youth, Apache culture, and reservation lifestyles in his work. "You need to show 'Indian people' in the 21st century and not so much as museum pieces," Miles says.
Several pieces of his work are in the collection of the National Museum of the American Indian. His paintings are in private collections in France, Germany, New York, and Los Angeles.
Notable exhibits
References
External links
- SWAIA video interview with Douglas Miles
- Rez Style interview with Douglas Miles, via News from Indian Country
Retrieved from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Miles
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