Born on the Choctaw Reservation in Philadelphia, Mississippi, Randy Chitto and his family moved to Chicago where baseball became an early passion. Aspirations of becoming a professional baseball player was his paramount interest until Chitto observed a friend of his father, a graphic designer, drawing some sketches. The attraction to art proved strong and pulled Chitto from the ball field to the graphics table and gave him new direction.
Large Black Bear Storyteller with Four Babies, ceramic, 11 x 9 x 9"
Chitto eventually attended a semester at the prestigious Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA), a then emerging art school in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It became a life-altering experience. Santa Fe was a very different environment from the bustling, crowded, energetic streets of Chicago. Slowly, however, the ambiance of Santa Fe worked its magic and the culturally diverse, expressive environment of IAIA and its keen artistic focus provided yet another creative horizon for Chitto, moving him from graphic artist to “storyteller” ceramicist. “To tell the truth, I began working in clay because I needed a couple of credits to stay in the dorms. After the first clay class I was hooked.”
Large Black Turtle with Three Babies and Cradleboard, ceramic, 9¾ x 6"
Extra Large Black Bear with Drum, ceramic, 19 x 9"
Turtle storytellers became Chitto’s trademark, in which he blends stories from his Choctaw heritage with an art form known to the Southwest. Chitto’s turtles tell many stories. Some are dressed as bears, some as koshari or clowns, while others are covered with baby turtles who straddle the elder, wiser turtle, listening to stories of the early Choctaw people. Each turtle has a tiny medicine pouch tied around its neck. Inside are tiny shards; bits of a sculpture broken during firing. This simple, but special adornment mirrors a legend that relates how Choctaw warriors placed earth from their homeland in their pouches to enable their spirits to find their way home to the ancestral lands if they were killed in battle.
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Represented by True West Gallery
130 Lincoln Avenue, Suite F, Santa Fe, NM 87501, (505) 982-0055
www.truewestgallery.com
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