Hoocąk

Lowe also took inspiration from ancestral Hoocąk and neighboring Woodland people’s expertise with craft and construction. He admired the domed architecture of traditional dwellings and the forms of canoes. Lowe explored the design of the watercraft in works such as “Shadow Canoe” (1996) and “Feather Canoe” (1996).

2025 October 9, ““Water’s Edge: The Art of Truman Lowe” Opens Oct. 24 at the National Museum of the American Indian”, in Smithsonian Institution

His dad, Cecil Garvin, learned Hoocąk as a child, and is one of the few still alive who did. As such, his dad is a vital link to the tribe's history and culture.

2022 August 30, Sarah Volpenhein, “Ho-Chunk Nation launches online dictionary to breathe new life into endangered Ho-Chunk language”, in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

According to The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, between 1869 and the 1960s, the American government sent Indigenous children to more than 350 Indian boarding schools. Students at these schools were forced to assimilate to a Westernized way of life. Several decades later, the repercussions of these institutions are evident through the dwindling number of Hoocąk speakers, according to NNABSHC.

2023 October 5, Tarun Vedula, “Hoocąk language organization preserves Indigenous culture”, in The Badger Herald