Artist, Musician, Enrolled Member of the Mad River Band of Wiyot Indians

Rick Bartow

Rick Bartow was a Vietnam Veteran, a musician, songwriter, widower, an enrolled member of the Mad River Band of Wiyot Indians, and is considered one of the most important leaders in contemporary Native American art. His art was subject of over 100 solo exhibitions at museums and galleries, including the retrospective Things You Know But Cannot Explain, organized by the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon, and accompanied with a fully illustrated monograph. He created sculpture, painting, drawing, prints over the course of his nearly 40-year career as an artist. He often depicted figures in transformation, humans becoming all kinds of animals and birds- crows, kestrels, hawks, dogs, coyotes, bears, bulls. His works show Indian leaders, references to dance and ceremony, artists and writers he admired, flowers, self portraits. Froelick Gallery began representing him upon its inception in 1995 and continues to represent his estate. He lived in Newport, Oregon throughout his life.