Dwayne Wilcox American, Oglala, and Lakota, born in 1954 Dwayne “Chuck” Wilcox is an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota and a lifelong producer of art.

Chuck was born in Kadoka, South Dakota, attended Crazy Horse High School, and served in the military for four years. While he has no formal art training, Chuck had his first commissioned art piece in 1974, which eventually led to a full-time career. Chuck’s chosen medium is ledger paper, the first paper to make its way to the American Great Plains in the 19th century. He uses this medium to convey a living culture through humor, dance, or vices of modern times. Chuck’s goal is to share a continuing view of how natives see European culture and to reverse the paradigm. His work has been exhibited at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York City; Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK; Red Cloud Heritage Museum, Rine Ridge, SD; Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA; the University of Alaska, Anchorage; among many other venues growing up on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Dwayne could often be found drawing and painting in his free time. Later in life, he utilized the arts to grapple with life’s challenges and celebrations and as a way to reconnect with his community when he was away from home. But, it wasn’t until he was paid to produce a mural at an elementary school in Colorado Springs in the 1970’s that Dwayne began to think that he could actually make a living doing something that felt so natural: telling stories. Though he never imagined he would become one of the most influential ledger artists in the country, today, Dwayne’s stories are now featured in galleries across the country, from Nebraska to New Hampshire, and all the way to the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

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