Concurrently with Joni Falk’s exhibition we will be showing the work of Native American sculptor Doug Hyde. Hyde was born in Oregon and is of Assiniboine, Nez Perce, and Chippewa heritage. He attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, where he learned from acclaimed Apache sculptor Alan Houser. He briefly attended the San Francisco Art Institute before enlisting in the army in the late 1960s. Hyde was seriously wounded by a grenade during his second tour of duty in Vietnam.

After he left the military, Hyde took a job working at a friend’s tombstone business. As he learned how to cut and shape stone using power tools during the day, he used these same skills to make sculpture at night. Hyde entered these sculptures in a museum show and, when every piece he made sold, he realized that he could pursue a life as an artist. Doug Hyde currently resides in Prescott, Arizona. Many of his sculptures can be seen around the Phoenix Area and in several museums in Arizona.

The Museum “heART of the West Gala” will welcome both Joni and Doug on Saturday, January 21, 2023.