"Although I sell regularly and have done so for over twenty years, I decided to join EBSQ because I wanted to expose my work to a new audience. I sell my paintings so quickly it is difficult to accumulate a body of work these days. But I think it is important to always keep reaching out to new people who may find your work meaningful and beautiful. I also think there is something magical about original art...I feel art needs to get to those who need it, especially those who may not always have all the resources to buy such art. I feel it is the duty of the artist, to pass on this gift of Our Creator, to get original art to the one who needs the art the most. To that end I look forward to doing some pieces expressly for folks who buy from EBSQ...I believe in what EBSQ is doing!" -Lance Michael Foster

Lance Michael Foster is an enrolled member of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, and is inspired by his heritage in both Native American and EuroAmerican traditions. He has been an active painter since 1978. Foster is an alumni of the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico (1980-1981), and has graduate degrees in anthropology (M.A.) and landscape architecture (M.L.A.). He is a noted and published artist and scholar of traditional Native American languages, arts, and cultures. He was raised in Montana where his family still lives.

His art reflects his tribal heritage, with a deeper understanding of the traditional culture, aesthetics, and approach to life. He approaches the traditions of other people in a similar way to find the common ground of experience and respect. During the summer of 1996, he painted a mural in a village in Nigeria, Africa, as a token of international friendship. Most recently he has been commissioned to do a series for the Interpret Hawaii program of Kapiolani College.

Foster's work shows particular depth in color symbolism and structure, and is masculine, confident, and solid in those aspects. The work also features exuberant movement in seeking to translate these explosive and mythical images. Traditional memory is honored through the integration of Native language on the canvas as mysterious inscriptions much like pictographs or petroglyphs. Recently he has also been exploring the incorporation of medieval Christian art with Native traditions.

Foster's exuberant, solid, and colorful style is confrontational and life-affirming. Many have remarked upon sensing a magical presence in them, as if a spirit of protection and guardianship dwells there. For those who own a Foster painting, what can be at first unsettling in its boldness becomes a protective aspect of everyday life. Many have remarked how they sense protection from his paintings.

Foster is represented in many collections, including the Ted Turner ranch in Montana, the Institute of American Indian Arts, the University of Iowa, and several private collections. He is listed in "The Biographical Directory of Native American Painters" and his artwork and essays are in several other books, such as "The Worlds Between Two Rivers" and "Recovering the Prairie"; he is also a primary consultant and interviewee for an upcoming PBS documentary on the tallgrass prairies of the American Midwest. He is writing a book on the Indians of Iowa and currently lives on the North Shore of Hawaii with his wife Lisa.

ARTISTIC CHRONOLOGY

1996-2002: Ioway Foundations

• "Alaska/Hawaii Series." Painted in Alaska and Hawaii, 2001-2002.
• "Ioway I Series". Painted in Iowa and New Mexico, 1996-2000.
• American Indian Art Exhibit, Iowa State University, April 1996 (*Winner Best of Show)
• Various publications (articles and essays) and presentations

1983-1996: Reconnection/Renewal

• Sketches, new painting directions, period of scholarly/traditional work, and retreats on reservations in Montana, Kansas and Oklahoma, and ancestral sites in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin
• B.A. Anthropology/Native American Studies (University of Montana, 1983) M.A. Anthropology (Iowa State University, 1995?)
• M.L.A. Landscape Architecture (Iowa State University, 1997)

1978-1983: IAIA/PanIndian Period

• Alfred Whiteman Memorial Art Show, Northwind Gallery, Missoula, Montana Dec 1983 Songs From the Earth, University of Montana, 1982
• IAIA show Heard Museum 1981
• IAIA show, Wheelwright Gallery, Taos 1981; IAIA traveling exhibit (Europe) 1980-81; IAIA Museum Winter Show 1980
• IAIA Alumnus 1980-81
• First series based on visions of Black Elk