Ed Singer's oil paintings: reflecting Diné life with beauty and honesty

For more than 50 years, Ed Singer has used oil paints on canvas to depict life in the Navajo Nation. His style mixes realism and expressionism, and he employs techniques drawn from European oil painting masters. Singer is part of a generation of Indigenous artists from the 1960s and 1970s who asserted a visual sovereignty in their paintings, to confront Native American stereotypes, and depict Native American life in a modern context.

In this episode, we meet 73-year-old Ed Singer in his studio in Cortez, CO, and learn a bit about his journey as an artist.

Written and produced by Adam Burke and Kirbie Bennett.

Host: Kirbie Bennett

Musical score: Adam Burke

Additional musical scoring: Lawn Games

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