Charlene Teters

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Charlene Teters (b. Spokane, Washington) is an American artist, educator, and lecturer. Her paintings and art installations have been featured in over 21 major exhibitions, commissions, and collections. She is a member of the Spokane Tribe and her Spokane name is Slum Tah. She was born and raised in Spokane, Washington, near the Spokane Indian Reservation.

She has been active in opposing the use of Native American mascots and other imagery in sports since 1989. She is a founding board member of the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and the Media (NCRSM).

Beginning in 1984, she attended the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA), in Santa Fe, New Mexico, graduating in 1986 with an Associate of Fine Arts in painting from in 1986. She then attended the College of Santa Fe, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting in 1988.

In 1988, she began graduate studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Department of Art and Design, eventually graduating with a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting. In 1989, she reacted strongly to the performance of a pseudo-Native American dance by a European American student portraying "Chief Illiniwek" at a university basketball game and soon after began to protest silently outside athletic events while holding a small sign reading "Indians are human beings" (Spindel 2002; Rosenstein 1997). Her actions led to a strong upswing in efforts to eliminate Native American imagery in school, university, and university athletics throughout the United States and a film (In Whose Honor) was produced on the subject.

Teters also holds an honorary doctorate in fine art from Mitchell College in New London, Connecticut. On October 10, 1997 she was honored as "Person of the Week" by Peter Jennings on the ABC World News Tonight program, for her commitment to her work and her people.

In the mid-1990s Teters served as Senior Editor of Native Artist Magazine. She currently lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico and serves as Professor of Art at the Institute of American Indian Arts and has served as Dean for Arts and Cultural Studies at IAIA. Since September 2006 she has also served as Hugh O. LaBounty Endowed Chair of Interdisciplinary Knowledge at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, California.

[edit] References

King, C. Richard, and Charles Fruehling Springwood, eds. (2001). Team Spirits: The Native American Mascots Controversy. Foreword by Vine Deloria Jr. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Spindel, Carol (2002). Dancing at Halftime: Sports and the Controversy Over American Indian Mascots. Updated edition, with a new afterword. New York: New York University Press.