Buffy Sainte-Marie, Musician, Artist, Educator
A Multitalented Singer/Songwriter, Teacher, Painter and Advocate
Jul 9, 2009
According to Creative Native website, Buffy (Beverley) Sainte-Marie was born on the Piapot Reserve in Craven, Saskatchewan, on February 20, 1941. Orphaned as an infant, she was adopted by a couple who were partly MikMaq Indian and raised in Massachusetts and Maine.
Sainte-Marie holds a PhD in Fine Arts from the University of Massachusetts and degrees in both Teaching and Oriental Philosophy. Long before she became a folksinger, Buffy was a lecturer and a teacher of native studies.
Buffy Sainte-Marie Composes Universal Soldier
She began as a Singer/Songwriter during the 1960’s when campuses all over the United States were exploding in protest to the Vietnam War. Late one night, while waiting for a flight at San Francisco airport, Buffy saw a group of soldiers in bandages and wheelchairs who had just returned from Vietnam.
As she thought about who was responsible for this carnage, she decided we were all individually responsible. Before her flight landed in Toronto, Buffy Sainte-Marie had written the song that became an anthem for the peace movement, Universal Soldier.
By the age of twenty-four, Buffy Sainte-Marie was famous as a singer/songwriter. Many celebrated artists like Elvis Presley and Janis Joplin recorded her classic songs. Buffy's pacifist leanings and anti-war songs, however, angered the Administration of President Lyndon Johnson. She was blacklisted in the States, but continued her career by touring, to much acclaim, all over Europe, Canada, Australia and Asia.
Buffy and Dakota on Sesame Street
In 1976, Buffy settled in Hawaii, married her third husband and gave birth to her son Dakota Starblanket Wolfchild. She also began experimenting with digital recording and painting. Buffy and baby Dakota also began their five-year recurring, appearances on Sesame Street. She said, “I wanted little kids and their caretakers to know that Indians exist.” She wanted to prevent stereotypical images of natives by instilling positive realities at an early age. Buffy also showed Big Bird how to feed a baby by nursing her son on the show.
As a composer, Buffy won an Academy Award in 1982 for the song, Up Where We Belong, as recorded by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes for the film, An Officer and a Gentleman. In 1992, she helped the Juno Awards in Canada establish a new category, Music of Aboriginal Canada. The Canadian Juno Awards also inducted Buffy into the JUNO Hall of Fame. Although she had been raised in the United States, Sainte-Marie has always considered herself, Canadian.
Buffy Ste Marie, Digital Artist and Cradleboard Project Creator
Working on a Macintosh computer and using mainly Photoshop software, Buffy began creating digital art and music. She said electronic painting is like “painting with light.” Her large, bright, native themed paintings have been shown in museums and galleries all across North America.
During her concert touring, Buffy Sainte-Marie had always taken the time to visit native communities. The Cradleboard Teaching Project began from these experiences. In October of 1996, she received a two-year grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Michigan. Through the use of interactive technology and a core curriculum, development by Buffy, the project strives to replace old inaccuracies and teach both Native and non-Native children, the realities of Native History and Culture.
Today, she continues to lecture on a variety of subjects including native issues and the use of electronic technology in the arts and music. She is an adjunct Professor at York University in Toronto. She also teaches Digital Arts at the Institute for American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Buffy Sainte Marie’s songs and work, like her life, is a manifestation of a unique, multitalented and compassionate human being.
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