Seneca-Iroquois National Museum Celebrates Native Artist
Seneca-Iroquois National Museum Celebrates Native Artist
The Carson Waterman Retrospective is a Celebration of History and Culture
Photos / carsonwaterman.webs.com
From his early childhood at the Thomas Indian School, to his service in the Vietnam War, to the shut-down of 30 miles of the New York State Thruway, artist Carson Waterman has witnessed many watershed moments in history. Throughout his decades-long career, he has dedicated his life to a simple - yet powerful - lesson he learned in art school: “Art is self-expression.” It’s this mantra that has allowed Waterman to share his unique story through his artwork, which is being featured in a brand-new exhibit at the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum that opened just last week on Saturday, May 27th.
“Carson Waterman: A Retrospective” is a celebration of Waterman’s life and work, as he is one of the most prolific and impactful artists to represent Onondowa’ga history and culture. A member of the Snipe Clan, Waterman continues to live and paint in Salamanca, though he spent his early years on the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation. Even his earliest memories include art, said Waterman. “I remember being interested in art when I was around five years old,” he explained. “I was in the Thomas Indian School… I had just turned five, so I was in the youngest building with kids that went up to eight years old.” Working with government-issued legal paper and crayons, Waterman discovered a love of drawing. “The older boys were in a group drawing war stuff - I recall them making war noises, airplanes, and drawing these war scenes, so I tried to join them, and they kind of pushed me aside because I was so young!”
This didn’t deter Waterman, who continued pursuing his love of art - and football - throughout his high school years at Gowanda Central School, where many Seneca students matriculated when the Thomas Indian School closed in 1957. “After high school, I was talking to my guidance counselor, and I asked if there were any schools that I could attend nearby that just focused on art,” said Waterman. “I found this small art school in Cleveland, the Cooper School of Art. Cleveland, being on Lake Erie, turned out to be a really busy art community, and it was mostly because of the printing industry that thrived there because of the shipping industry and the lake.”
In addition to studying fine art, Waterman learned quite a bit about commercial art, too, as many Cooper instructors had worked as artists for American Greetings, which is headquartered just outside of Cleveland. By the time Waterman reached the end of his schooling, about half of his portfolio was fine art and half was commercial art. “At the time, Vietnam was a very unpopular war, and everyone was being drafted,” Waterman recalled. “I kept my grades up, and as soon as I finished, I got my draft notice. I thought maybe I could use my art skills and avoid Vietnam, but I did get orders to Vietnam, and while I was there, much of the time I would draw.”
Part of the U.S. Army’s 4th Infantry Division, Waterman served in the central highlands of South Vietnam under Major General Donn R. Pepke. “It was all jungle - mountains and very heavy jungle,” he recalled. “I carried a sketch pad with me in my rucksack, and every chance I got, I did drawings of other soldiers and everything I saw. Most everyone wrote letters, and I got kind of a scolding because I didn’t send enough letters home!”
The course of Waterman’s military career changed when he did a drawing of one of his lieutenants who had a broken ankle and had to go back to the rear. “The drawing I’d done of him, he took with him and he showed other officers,” said Waterman. “They then became interested in me, and I did some drawings for them. The right officer came along, and he took my artwork to another office who was able to show the division commander, General Pepke. He sent orders for me to come back to the rear and do artwork for him! That saved my life.”
Three months passed before Waterman was able to leave the front lines, due to a troop shortage. “When there were enough men to replace enough of us, I was able to go back,” he said. “I was given special orders attached to the public information office to read through and select stories coming back from battle and do illustrations and drawings of what those stories were about.” These stories and Waterman’s illustrations were published in the division newspaper, as well as the quarterly magazines, such as “Faces of the Famous Fighting Fourth.”
Upon his return home from Vietnam, the Seneca Nation’s education program was just beginning. “They asked me if I’d work for them, so I developed a small art organization,” Waterman recalled. “I worked with kids in grade school up to seniors, and were producing some very nice artwork. We showed the artwork in the council chambers so that when our council met, they’d see what they were doing. They then decided to build our museum, and I worked there for 13 years developing exhibits and doing artwork.” In the late 1980s, Waterman got married and decided to strike out on his own when his daughter was just one year old. “I wanted to see if I could make a living producing artwork; I wanted to carry it as far as I could,” he explained.
In the years that followed, Waterman became one of the most sought-after Seneca artists in the country. Since the late 1980s, Waterman has traveled to powwows and art shows throughout the region, the U.S. and abroad. With shows in Santa Fe, New York City, Germany, and more, Waterman has shared his Seneca heritage with people all over the world. “I consider one of the greatest influences from art school was a question of ‘What is art?’ and one of the answers is that art is self-expression, and that really struck home with me because of who I am: I’m a member of the Seneca Nation,” he said. “I always looked at who I am and produced works that interpret and are accurate to our history and our culture so that I can influence our young people to follow the same direction.”
Waterman’s retrospective features works that span many decades of his career, including his time as a combat artist in Vietnam, New York State’s violation of the SNI tax agreement, and the thruway shut-down, and more, with prints available for sale. Waterman shared his presence with the public at the exhibit’s May 27th opening, which was also part of the dedication ceremony for the longhouse replica.
For public examples of Waterman’s work, visit the Allegany River Rest Area, the Seneca Nation’s resorts and casinos, as well as the Buffalo Metro Rail. Prior to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Waterman was approached for an exhibit at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of the American Indian, and he hopes to resume this project soon. For more of Waterman’s work, visit www.carsonwaterman.webs.com; he can be contacted for commissions at 716-969-1127.