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Corn Maiden - Sculpture by Doug Hyde
Of Native American descent, Doug Hyde was born in Hermiston, Oregon,
in 1946. The lore of his Nez Perce, Assiniboine, and Chippewa ancestry came to him from his grandfather and other elders who carefully instructed Doug Hyde through legends of animal characters the morals of his people as well as the ways of Mother Earth and the creation of man.
Doug Hyde attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, during which time he enjoyed the tutelage and friendship of the late renowned Apache sculptor, Allan Houser. In 1967 Doug Hyde attended the San Francisco Art Institute on scholarship for a time before enlisting in the U.S. Army. During his second tour of duty in Viet Nam, a grenade seriously wounded Doug Hyde. During his recuperation he learned the use of power tools in the cutting and shaping of stone while working in a friend's tombstone business, all the while continuing his art education and sculpting at night. Finally Doug Hyde entered some of his sculpture for a show sponsored by the Northern Plains Indian Museum in Browning, Montana. When his work sold out, Doug Hyde realized that he was now ready to make his mark and that Santa Fe was to be his base of operations.
Returning to Santa Fe in 1972 to teach at the Institute of American Indian Arts, Doug Hyde brought with him experience and knowledge as well as a desire to learn all he could about other native cultures. The following year he left the institute to devote himself full-time to sculpting. Doug Hyde's works sculptured in bronze or stone, often in monumental size, frequently represent the stories told to him during his youth or portray more historical events. What is of great importance to him is that they are accurate representations of their subject matter, and that process only occurs "when I can visualize the finished sculpture in my mind."
Doug Hyde's work may be viewed in the collections of the Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Heard Museum, Museum of the Southwest, Southwest Museum, Gilcrease Museum, Eitelborg Museum, and the Colorado Springs Fine Art Center among others. In 1990 the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma, provided Doug Hyde with a retrospective exhibit of his work. The Corn Maiden bronze measures 17" x9"x5".
Donated by Desert Museum Trustee James Hensley
