BARRY COFFIN
Potawatomi/Creek ( born: September 21, 1947 – December 4, 2016)
Barry Coffin is a Native American sculptor and painter of Potawatomi and Creek descent and was born in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1947. He was an enrolled member of the Prairie Band of the Potawatomi Nation. He was raised with his brothers at Haskell Institute in Lawrence (now Haskell Indian Nations University) where his father, Tony, was the Coach and Athletic Director for many years.
He lived in Lawrence most of his life. After graduating from Lawrence High School, Barry attended the University of Kansas and then the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, graduating in 1977. He was a U.S. Army veteran, serving in Vietnam during the 1968 Tet Offensive. At the Institute of American Indian Arts he learned to work in ceramics, and his main focus was drawn to building sculptures out of clay. After graduating, his sculptures were displayed and sold in galleries in Santa Fe and throughout the southwest. He became well known for sculpture, and his art career really took off. He received his associate of fine arts from the Institute of American Indian Art. He lived and worked in Taos, New Mexico.
Barry participated in numerous Indian Markets and Art Exhibitions across the U.S., as well as in France and Canada. He traveled to exotic locations with his adventurous mother Lolly, even cruising the Nile in Egypt. Many musical adventures were enjoyed with his friends as were innumerable golf games.
Coffin’s work resides in the permanent collections of the New Mexico Fine Arts Museum, Heard Museum, Denver art museum, Wheelwright Museum, Museum of the Institute of American Indian Arts, Eiteljorg Museum as well as many private collections throughout the world. In addition to his work as an artist Coffin curated the “Native American Fine Arts Exhibit” at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in San Francisco, California. This event was visited by more than 50,000 concert goers and included a star-studded benefit concert which included musicians such as Carlos Santana, Steve Miller, Bonnie Raitt, and Don Henley among others.
