W. Richard West Sr.

From 1979 to 1980, West served as professor emeritus at Bacone College.

In 1962, the Eastern Baptist College awarded him an honorary doctorates in humane letters, as did the Baker University, in 1976. From 1979-80, West was a commissioner on the Indian Arts and Crafts Board.

[T]he Indian artist must be allowed freedom to absorb influences outside of his own art forms and see the promise of a new lane of expression that should keep the Indian's art the art form termed 'native Indian painting,' and I give my student every opportunity to execute it... I have always felt that the term abstraction has been a part of the Indian's artistic thinking longer than most European contemporary influences and perhaps in a [truer] form..." —Dick West, 1955

He was hired at Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma, where he became head of the art department and taught from 1947 to 1970. From 1970 to 1977, West taught art at Haskell Indian Junior College in Kansas. He influenced generations of Native American artists. His students included such successful artists as Joan Hill, Enoch Kelly Haney, Johnny Tiger Jr., Sharron Ahtone Harjo, Marlene Riding In-Mameah, and Virginia Stroud.

West enrolled at University of Oklahoma (OU), where he earned a BFA degree in 1941. He later returned for graduate work, earning an MFA degree in 1950. While at OU, he studied under Swedish-American artist Oscar Jacobson (1882–1996), who mentored the Kiowa Six, other Native American artists. West felt that Jacobson's active support of Native Americans helped him cope with the widespread racial prejudice that he encountered in the city of Norman.

In 1941 and 1942, West lived in Phoenix, Arizona, where he studied mural painting under Olle Nordmark (1890–1973), a Swedish-American artist and sculptor. West continued post-graduate studies at Northeastern State University, University of Tulsa, and Redlands College.

In 1941, West began his first teaching assignment at the Phoenix Indian School, serving primarily Navajo students. After the United States entered World War II, he joined the US Navy the next year and fought in Europe, serving from 1942 to postwar 1946. Upon his honorable discharge, West returned to teaching at the Phoenix Indian School.

The Section of Painting and Sculpture commissioned West to paint a mural for the U.S. Post Office of Okemah, Oklahoma in 1941. He won two grand awards from the Philbrook Museum. In 1964, he won the Waite Phillips Outstanding Indian Artist Award from the Philbrook Museum of Art.

In 1940, West married Maribelle McCrea. They had two sons together, W. Richard West Jr. and James Lee West. In 1970, he married his second wife, Rene Wagoner.

From 1936 to 1938, West attended Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma, where he earned an associate's degree. At Bacone, West studied under celebrated artist, Acee Blue Eagle (1907–1959, Muscogee). His classmates at Bacone College included Terry Saul and Oscar Howe. As a young man, West played football and worked in oil fields.

West attended Concho Indian Boarding School and Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas. At that time, Haskell had grades 9-12 and served as a high school; he graduated in 1935. (It later gained status as a junior college and then as a four-year college.) One of his earliest artistic mentors was painter Carl Sweezy (1881–1953), Southern Arapaho.

Walter Richard West Sr. (1912–1996, Southern Cheyenne), was a painter, sculptor, and educator. He led the Art Department at Bacone College from 1947 to 1970. He later taught at Haskell Institute for several years. West is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes.

West was born on September 8, 1912, in a tipi near the Darlington Agency in Oklahoma. His Cheyenne name, Wapah Nahyah, means "Lightfooted Runner." His father was Lightfoot West. His mother was Rena Flying Coyote, also known as Emily Black Wolf, whose parents were Big Belly Woman and Thunder Bull. West's