By Dan Ninham
Frank Buffalo Hyde (b. 1974, Santa Fe, NM) is an Onondaga/ Niimíipuu (Nez Perce) artist whose paintings examine and elevate an image of contemporary Indigenous life through a vibrant pop-sensibility and uncompromising satirical eye, according to the Hirshhorn Museum installation website. His work has been shown at museums including the Wheelright Museum of the American Indian, Santa Fe, NM; the C.M Russell Museum, Great Falls, MT; and he is in the permanent collection at the Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK.
(His work) is in the public collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Washington DC; Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA; Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY; Iroquois Museum, Cobleskill, NY; Longyear Museum at Colgate University, Hamilton, NY; the Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, NM; the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian. Hyde lives and works in Northfield, MN.
Below: Installation shot of Unapologetically Indigenous. (Photos by Frank Buffalo Hyde.)
Frank Buffalo Hyde’s Unapologetically Indigenous installation is at the Soo Visual Arts Center, 2909 Bryant Avenue South #101, Minneapolis, MN. The exhibition runs from December 7, 2025 to January 18, 2026.
Below is the interview.
DN: How did you get started in your art career?
FBH: I had my first showing in a group exhibition in Armory Square in Syracuse, NY. Charcoal drawings while I was in high school.
DN: Describe your art style and how has it evolved over time?
FBH: Post-modern neo expressionist Native American. Like many artists my work has been a process of trial and error. I spent the first eight years trying on all the hats. Working on different styles until my visual vocabulary became evident.
DN: What is your art vision statement?
FBH: My work is for indigenous people primarily. I am pro- indigenous first, that doesn’t mean that I am anti anything else. It means that there’s a certain shorthand for native peoples combined with current events and popular culture.
DN: Share how your indigenous core values are embodied in your art.
FBH: My indigenous perspective is a result of growing up in my community in the Onondaga Nation. Where we are sovereign we hold our own borders and government. I have also combined that with a fascination with the outside world of history, movies and current events. I often react and address the miscommunication between those things in complex allegorical compositions that function on multiple levels.
DN: What role does storytelling play in your art?
FBH: I guess narratives are key to my work. I choose images that are already loaded with collective consciousness content. Similar to storytelling in a way but, non-linear.
DN: Describe a recent project that you are most proud of and why it stands out to you.
FBH: I recently participated in a group show at The High Desert museum in Bend, Oregon titled “Sensing Sasquatch” (and) it was curated to be from the perspective of indigenous people and how medicine can’t always be quantified by western science but is revered among many different tribes as reality. It won the 2025 Autry Living History prize.
DN: Do you mentor others? What advice would you give to aspiring artists who follow your lead?
FBH: I absolutely believe in mentoring when possible I hire youth artists to be interns in my studio. It offers real world experience in a professional art studio. I try to be open and available to anyone who has questions about the art world.
DN: Share details on your current and future art exhibitions and residencies.
FBH: I currently have a solo exhibition at SOVAC in Minneapolis titled “Unapologetically Indigenous” that runs through January 18, 2026 along with a few public art projects in Minnesota and Oklahoma that have yet to be completed. I was commissioned by the Northfield YMCA to create a mural for their newly updated cardio and weight training area. I incorporated many of the activities available at the facility and also my daughter was the model for the volleyball player as well as painting assistant and photographer.
DN: In closing, what do you want your readers to know about you that may not have been in the media already?
FBH: I guess most people don’t know that I’m also an art writer and recently gave a keynote speech to the Minnesota Art Educator’s Conference. I also have a music project called Buffalo Jim.
Learn more about Frank Buffalo Hyde at: frankbuffalohyde.com
