Marty Two Bulls Jr.

Oglala Sioux Tribe Artist Laureate 2023 – 2024

Story by Chad Coppess

Marty Two Bulls Jr. was destined to express himself artistically. “Each generation of the Two Bulls tiospaye has its artists,” he says.

“Painters, bead workers and musicians.”

Two Bulls’ father, a well-known visual artist and illustrator, guided Two Bulls through his artistic journey. In his father’s studio, Two Bulls learned sculpture, illustration, graphic design and how to make a living in the arts.

Now Two Bulls, who grew up in Rapid City, is one of the first to be named Oglala Sioux Tribe Artist Laureate. The tribe asked him and Keith BraveHeart (fellow Oglala Sioux Tribe Artist Laureate) to create a winter count, which has not been done in many years. “A winter count is a visual representation of important events in tribal history,” says Two Bulls. “We hope to create ours using traditional materials like bison hide.”

Before becoming a teacher at Oglala Lakota College in 2017, Two Bulls studied printmaking and ceramics at the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico and earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts in 2011. After graduation, he remained in Santa Fe where he worked in galleries and met contemporary artists from around the world. Since returning home, Two Bulls has developed a graphic arts program for Oglala Lakota College and has displayed his work nationally and internationally.

Two Bulls is happy to see his students’ success. “Some of them are going off and doing really great things,” he says. “I didn’t anticipate teaching being so beneficial to me and my art, but it has been.”