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Kevin Pourier

Tribal Affiliation: Oglala Lakota

Born: December 12, 1958

Known for: Incised buffalo horn

Personal Website

“I didn’t want to be an artist who simply replicated old designs; my ancestors already did that. Those were their stories. I have my own story to tell as a 21st century Lakota. I use horn to make eyeglasses, belts, jewelry, and other items that carry a deep message. My art speaks out about issues that affect Native people: the taking of Native lands, issues of identity, and big corporations running pipelines across sacred sites. Water rights, oppression, women’s power, climate change, and the endangerment of the monarch butterfly population—all of these are important to me. – Pourier

Kevin Pourier, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, is a self-taught artist who has been carving buffalo horn on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota for many years. Pourier is one of the only artists in the country working in the medium of incised buffalo horn. The works he produces carry forward Lakota artistic practices for creating spoons and vessels of sublime beauty from the horns of the revered animal.

Pourier’s carvings reveal the beauty he sees in the world around him. He utilizes imagery intent on inspiring thought, growth, and creating the opportunity for education.

His work is in multiple private and personal collections across the country, including Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody, WY, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN, the Smithsonian American Indian Art Museum, Washington, DC, the Atká Lakota Museum, St. Joseph’s Indian School, Chamberlain, SD, and The Heritage Center at Red Cloud Indian School, Pine Ridge, SD.