49 Minutes of Fame Artist Profile: Chase Earles
Chase Earles spreads knowledge about Caddo identity through pottery using traditional and modern pop art elements.
An artist from the age of 5, Chase Earles has worked hard throughout his life to represent the Caddo tribe in his pieces.
As a member of the Caddo Nation, Earles creates pottery, gorgets and jewelry that depict his tribe’s customs and traditions, often portraying Caddo history in a modern light. He says he became interested in pottery during childhood visits to the Southwest.
“I was really inspired by Southwestern Pueblo pottery,” Earles says. “That’s what really sparked my interest early in pottery.”
A learning opportunity
During his school days, Earles says he received a mostly Western education in art. While his grandmother told him a few stories about Caddo history, Earles didn’t learn more about his tribe’s rich pottery tradition until he reached adulthood.
Like many tribes, the Caddo Nation has suffered due to allotment and assimilation forced by the U.S. government. Earles says his grandmother grew up in a time when it was looked down upon to share about tribal culture. Her father, Earles’ great-grandfather, had his own culture beaten out of him at Riverside and Carlisle Indian schools.
As a result of cultural cleansing, Earles says many Native Americans don’t learn about their history unless they receive immersive education from their tribal headquarters or reservation. When he set out to become an artist, Earles conducted his own research on Caddo history. After discovering his tribe’s legacy in pottery, he knew he needed to share about the Caddo Nation to a wider audience.
“That became my purpose and kind of an obsession, too,” Earles says. “It was like a reconnection to my tribe’s culture and our people.”
Reteaching Caddo culture
A smaller tribe than other Indigenous communities, the Caddo Nation is made up of members whose ancestors inhabited land in modern-day Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Unlike other tribes, the Caddo people didn’t wear headdresses or live in teepees.
Earles says the Caddos were also an agricultural people, living in grass houses and working the land for thousands of years, where they produced their pottery. Instead of pow wows, the tribe held cultural dances made up of Caddo songs. Since learning his people’s songs and cultural narratives, Earles has taught those stories to Caddo youth and incorporated the legends into his art.
“I use those stories more and more now,” he says. “For a piece of pottery, I’ve learned that it’s better that I start incorporating meaning into the piece’s purpose through story or a statement. I either try to weave traditional stories or statements into it or modern-day issues.”
A featured artist in the Red Cloud Opera House exhibit 49 Minutes of Fame, Earles contributed a 3-D Caddo effigy piece, "Sky Horse II," which combines the concept of Indigenous Futurism with the ancient Caddo way of representing the environment and culture through pottery.
“You can see our ancient Caddo identity right next to a modern pop art piece,” Earles says. “I’m really excited about those kinds of pairings.”
Education and Indigenous Futurism
Over the years, Earles says the Caddo Nation has struggled to keep its members educated about its cultural identity, especially its youth. His goal is to show his tribe and the entire country what it means to be Caddo through art.
When he first started making art, Earles says he needed more of an education in pottery. While he learned the basics in high school, he taught himself traditional pottery-making, conducting research and talking to Pueblo ceramics artists along the way. He also spoke with archeologists and compared his pieces against archeological examples to learn how Caddo artists created pottery in ancient times.
“I just set out to try to figure out how to do ancient styles and methods,” Earles says. “It was a lot of trial and error. It was a huge extrapolation of everything I learned from all these different sources.”
Now, Earles is a foremost expert in Caddo pottery, coming up with original pieces that serve as an extension of his tribe’s history. Using ancient methods and materials, he creates traditional work and pop art that caters to younger, progressive audiences.
In addition to Native stories, Earles says he is interested in Indigenous Futurism, a modern art movement that focuses on reclaiming Indigenous culture that influences pop culture, particularly the Star Wars franchise.
“It’s about showing that Native Americans are not stagnant,” Earles says. “We don’t just produce old ancient things for nostalgia. Our Native culture can be woven in and seen as modern-day pop culture, as well.”
Contemporary relevance
Growing up in the Star Wars era, Earles says he was always a science fiction fan. As the Indigenous Futurism movement has grown, Earles has been one of the artists creating pieces that include elements from Native culture and Star Wars.
Since the Caddos traditionally crafted effigy pots of artifacts and animals around them, Earles says it was a “natural progression” to depict creatures and spaceships featured in Star Wars. His goal is to pair together pop art and ancient Caddo identity to show how Native culture is relevant today.
As a pop artist, Earles says he finds it important to let his pieces be informed by his culture.
"Having Native artists create art pieces can open the eyes of people who think that Native art is stagnant or stuffy,” he says. “It also shows that Native art can be fun. It doesn’t always have to be very serious or sobering topics.”
He also says he is driven to educate the public about Caddo cultural identity.
“Our tribe used to be a very large tribe that was extremely influential in the Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma regions,” Earles says. “We had a very prolific and gigantic pottery tradition that not many people know about. That’s what I ultimately want to accomplish: to educate people about Caddo culture and our art.”
About Chase Earles
Chase Kahwinhut Earles is a master in the skilled craftsmanship of ancient Caddo pottery that was often created to represent revered items and animals within the natural world, in Caddo stories and in the tribe’s cultural knowledge. A graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, Earles holds a degree in computer art and animation. He has worked as a web designer for the Chickasaw Nation, taught art classes and led pottery demonstrations at museums and other institutions. A key artist in the Indigenous Futurism movement, Earles has won numerous awards for his work. He earned First Place at the 2013 Santa Fe Indian Market, Best of Division at the 2014 Cherokee Art Market and Best of Show at the 2014 Red Earth Festival in Oklahoma City. Earles also won Best of Show at the 2015 Cahokia Mounds Contemporary Art Show and was 2016 Best of Class at the Cherokee Art Market in Tulsa. An expert in handmade traditional and contemporary Caddo pottery and sculpture, Earles has created works for museums and galleries throughout the United States.
Learn more about Chase Earles and his work at his website, and on Instagram.
Learn more about 49 Minutes of Fame: An Exhibition of Native Pop Art which was installed at the Red Cloud Opera House Gallery from November 5-December 14, 2021 • For a list of other 49 Minutes of Fame artist profiles on this website, click here • You can also view the digital gallery here.
We are grateful to freelance writer Juli Oberlander for her artist biographies and public relations efforts for this exhibit.