Bill Soza Warsoldier:
Not Your Average Savage

Born: January 1949, Southern, California

Tribal Affiliation: Cahuilla/Apache enrolled member of the Soboba Band of Indians

Education:

-Chicago Art Institute Newsreel School

-Arts Student League, Artist in Residence, NYC

-St. John’s College, Santa Fe, New Mexico

-Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico

From the studios of the old Institute of America Indian Art (IAIA) campus came this, Wild Beast not a Fauvist but an Indian version exploding with creativity causing an art movement which has been excepted within the Art community worldwide. “Let me set the record straight, during the 1960’s I.A.I.A. studios were not dictated by our instructors, but by the artists there.”

 

It was just a hot bed of talent when I went to IAIA. The talent came out because we were given pretty much a Carte Blanche of supplies and allowed to paint as much we wanted. Everything was given to us. 

French impressionists were using outdoor light while the Indian Wars flamed across our lands as a large canvas of lilies left an impression forever. Censorship in artworks has become chic again, only reflecting the fall of America’s dream for freedom while slowly chiseling away at already existing rights for more than the artistic community.

*Institute of America Indian Art, Santa Fe, NM