Truman Lowe’s Tributes to Nature

“His sculptures often convey a sense of motion: the flicker of stars, the slow sway of reeds in the wind, the gliding of a canoe.”

Chyna Bounds, assistant curator of American decorative arts and design, shares news of three artworks by Truman Lowe now in the Museum’s collection.

A reverence for nature is evident throughout the life’s work of Ho-Chunk artist Truman Lowe (1944–2019). Born in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, he used primarily natural materials such as willow saplings and feathers that he gathered from the land. His sculptures often convey a sense of motion: the flicker of stars, the slow sway of reeds in the wind, the gliding of a canoe. Through elegant and abstracted forms, Lowe connected Indigenous traditions and stories with the language of contemporary sculpture.

Three works by Lowe, Moon Blanket (ca. 1990), Water Spirit I (1991), and Feather Canoe (ca. 1993), are recent gifts to the Museum from local collectors Jan Serr and John Shannon. Moon Blanket takes us into the cosmos, referencing the trajectory of constellations in the night sky. Water Spirit I captures the quiet flow of water and the rhythms of the marshland, marking a specific place and time. Lowe considered both works tributes to nature’s power and its spiritual presence. Feather Canoe evokes the physical sensation of what Lowe described as “being on the earth while being suspended above it.”

The new acquisitions celebrate Lowe’s legacy and his connection to Wisconsin’s cultural narrative. They are also central to the history of contemporary art, enriching conversations around works by Eva Hesse, Martin Puryear, and Anne Truitt, among others, in the Museum’s collection.

We are eager to share all three works: Feather Canoe is included in the Homelands: Mnë’nának, Māēnāēwah, Tešišik reinstallation (gallery K223); Moon Blanket will be on view in Looking Forward: New Gifts of Art (Herzfeld Center for Photography and Media Arts, opening November 7, 2025); and Water Spirit I will feature in Water’s Edge: The Art of Truman Lowe (opening in 2027 in the Baker/Rowland Galleries after showing at the National Museum of the American Indian).