Keeper of the Plains: Blackbear Bosin’s “Great Indian” in Wichita – by Margaret Williams Norton

Keeper of the Plains: Blackbear Bosin’s “Great Indian” sculpture in Wichita, towers above the Arkansas River near downtown. The civic monument is held in high regard with the image often used as a symbol for the city. Simultaneously, the sculpture is a nearly sacred gathering place for Indians of the southern plains. The Kiowa-Comanche artist Blackbear Bosin (1921-1980), an artist of “the Golden Age of Indian Art” (1940s-1980s), was hospitalized when the public sculpture was proposed to him. Today, “Keeper” is regarded as Blackbear’s enduring legacy in Wichita. Augmented by its historic location where two branches of the “River of Arrows” join, “Keeper” is near the Mid-American All Indian Center where powwows and special ceremonies echoing ancient rituals are often held.

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