Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds, BFA '76
Edgar Heap of Birds has studied at the University of Kansas, Lawrence (BFA, 1976), undertaken graduate studies at the Royal College of Art, London (1977) and attended the Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia (MFA, 1979). He was named USA Ford Fellow in 2012 and Distinguished Alumni, University of Kansas, in 2014. Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts and Letters degrees have been awarded by the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston (2008), Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Vancouver, Canada (2017), and California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, (2018). In 2020, Heap of Birds was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as a member of the Humanities & Arts class, with a specialty in Visual Arts.
Heap of Birds has exhibited his works at The Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Cheyenne and Arapaho Nations Reservation, Oklahoma; The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia; Documenta, Kassal, Germany; Orchard Gallery, Derry, Northern Ireland; University Art Museum, Berkeley, California; Association for Visual Arts Museum, Cape Town, South Africa; SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico; Hong Kong Art Center, China; Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia; Grand Palais, Paris, France; Nanyang Technological University Art Gallery, Singapore; and the Venice Biennale, Italy.
From the artist: "The artworks of Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds include multidisciplinary forms of public art messages, large scale drawings, neuf series acrylic paintings, prints, works in glass and monumental porcelain enamel on steel outdoor sculpture.
Heap of Birds' artistic creations and efforts as an advocate for indigenous communities worldwide are focused first upon social justice and then the personal freedom to live within the tribal circle as an expressive individual."
In the Spring of 2022, the University of Kansas community gathered to celebrate the inaugural opening of the Edgar Heap of Birds Family Gallery in Chalmers Hall. Internationally recognized artist and KU Visual Art alumnus Edgar Heap of Birds and his family provided a generous donation which will sponsor annual exhibits and related programming showcasing Native American artists.
