WHITECLAY, Neb. — Within concrete walls that once housed a beer store that fueled alcoholism and death among residents of the nearby Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, renowned Native American artist Evans Flammond Sr. deftly draws lines on a huge buffalo hide.

Sitting at a table in the building in this small village on the South Dakota border, Flammond uses a tool called a chisel brush to lay out straight borders on the hide. The animal skin would eventually contain a sweeping encampment scene with American Indians on horseback running along the bottom.

On that day in May, Flammond was serving as artist-in-residence at the Whiteclay Makerspace, a building where Native and non-Native artists and potential artists gather to create art, share their knowledge and skills and sell pieces of artwork.

The makerspace is one element of a plan to use art instead of alcohol to drive the economic recovery of Whiteclay, which is just yards from the Pine Ridge border town and reservation where alcohol is illegal. 

Until 2017, when the state of Nebraska cracked down on the town’s liquor stores, Whiteclay was notorious for selling millions of cans of beer each year, most to Native residents of the reservation, where alcoholism contributes to generational poverty and suffering.

“This place killed many Native Americans — many, many people,” Flammond said. “But now, this building is the very first of its kind, a really groundbreaking place that has so many ways to help artists.”

The makerspace contains a large front room for artists to work and sell their pieces. It has sewing machines and two giant quilting machines. And it features a retail space with art supplies in a room that once served as a huge beer cooler.

The facility is part of an attempt to rebuild and rebrand Whiteclay as a haven for Native artists and art.

But moreover, the studio is part of a sweeping, and increasingly successful, larger effort in South Dakota and beyond to encourage Native Americans to pursue art and creativity, to expand their skill sets and artistic range, and also to monetize their creativity to make a living and strengthen their families and communities along the way.

Another part of the effort, the Rolling Rez Arts Bus, has traveled throughout Indian Country in South Dakota since 2016, bringing a mobile arts studio with experts and supplies to Native communities where art studios are rare or non-existent.

And in May, a grand opening was held for the Oglala Lakota Artspace near Kyle, about an hour north of Pine Ridge. The newly built structure contains art classrooms, a modern music and recording studio, performance spaces and equipment for artists to ply their trades.

Without pinpointing a single cause, one Native art expert said he has seen a dramatic rise in the past year both in the number of new, younger Native artists in South Dakota and an increasing ability of artists to break artistic barriers within the realm of Native art.

Dan Tribby of Rapid City is the general manager of Prairie Edge Trading Co. and Galleries, a downtown art and culture emporium that’s one of western South Dakota’s largest purveyors of Native American art.

“I’m not sure what was in the water, but in the last year we have been so blessed with the number of new artists and the talent they have. And the future just looks as good or better than it has in the past 20 years, that’s for sure,” Tribby said. “These young people we’ve had step forward in the last year are fantastic, really fantastic.”

Tribby said he has also seen a recent shift in Native art toward brighter colors and use of “bling” that he said is attractive to younger artists and customers.

Flammond theorized that the release of the popular movie “Dances with Wolves,” most of which was shot in South Dakota in 1989, brought a heightened global interest in Native American culture and art that has continued to this day.

But Tribby said he’s seen a recent bump in consumer interest in Native art, and buyers are willing to pay more than ever to own quality works.

“Native art has really come into its own right now, with a whole new audience and an expansion that has been good for everybody,” Tribby said. 

A 2013 market study by Colorado State University and the First Peoples Fund showed how sales of artwork can boost the incomes of Native Americans. It also found that in many cases, opportunities to improve monetization of art are being missed.

The Lakota artspace in Kyle is the first formal facility on the Pine Ridge reservation where working artists and budding artists can gather to help each other learn and grow in their art, said Bryan Parker, an art program manager with the First Peoples’ Fund.

Parker has run the Rez Arts Bus since its inception, providing a path forward for artists across Indian Country who had no or only limited access to art supplies and training.

A strengthening market for Native art, and higher resulting prices paid by the public, will also add opportunity for Indian artists to monetize their craft, he said.

On a recent afternoon, Talon Bazille Ducheneaux provided a brief tour of the Oglala Lakota Artspace, where he is musical coordinator.

Bazille Ducheneaux said he sees music, as well as other art, as a way for Native people to connect more deeply to their heritage, their culture and to one another in ways that will strengthen individuals and heal both Native and non-Native communities.

“The hope for the future is … for this space to become a hub for all of the community to come and celebrate each other with one another, to value each other for the stars that they really are, for the power that we all really have, and for the creativity we all really have,” Bazille Ducheneaux said.

The Whiteclay Makerspace has a strong focus on providing the critical elements to making artists successful: a place to create, the supplies to make art, knowledge from more experienced artists and a venue to sell their work, according to Holly Albers, manager of the facility.

To help artists succeed, it features a leather sewing machine that can be hard to find and two new quilt-making machines valued at $17,000 and $12,000, Albers said. 

One expert maker of star quilts sold many of her works but was limited by her inability to take a credit card, Albers said. 

In response, the Whiteclay Makerspace now offers programs to teach artists to use social media sites like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to showcase their art and also to use Venmo and other services that accept credit card payments.

— This article was produced by South Dakota News Watch, a non-profit journalism organization located online at sdnewswatch.org.