Remembering Larry Littlebird: The arts community reflects on the loss of an Indigenous icon

Larry Littlebird (Lawrence A. Bird) died on Sept. 15 at the age of 84 after a five-year battle with Alzheimer’s vascular dementia. Littlebird was an influential Kewa Pueblo/Laguna Pueblo artist, filmmaker, actor, author and experiential educator. His passing has prompted heartfelt words of appreciation from the arts community in New Mexico and beyond.

“Larry Littlebird was a visionary artist and storyteller whose work bridged worlds — bringing Indigenous knowledge systems, performance and film into powerful dialogue with contemporary art,” said Manuela Well-Off-Man, the chief curator at the Institute of American Indian Art Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) in Santa Fe.

As a filmmaker, Littlebird was one of the first to produce, write and direct films for and about Native people in the United States. He served on the founding committee of Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute and later founded Circle Film, a collaborative creative venture with Indigenous filmmakers and storytellers.

“As one of the first Native filmmakers to tell stories from an Indigenous perspective, he helped lay the groundwork for future generations of Native artists,” Well-Off-Man said. “Through his paintings, writings and teaching, Larry celebrated a holistic way of life rooted in Pueblo values of balance, listening and relationship. His artistic and spiritual leadership have left an enduring imprint on the Indigenous arts community and beyond.”

Littlebird starred in the 1972 independent film “House Made of Dawn,” based on the eponymous Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by N. Scott Momaday. The film was archived by the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian and declared a “watershed moment in the history of Native filmmaking.”

Jaime T. Herrell (Cherokee Nation), a prominent local curator of Native art and president of the Center for Contemporary Arts in Santa Fe, said she gained a deep appreciation for Littlebird during her tenure at the Smithsonian.

“Larry Littlebird’s legacy continues to guide so many of us working in Native art. His paintings and his performance in ‘House Made of Dawn’ — now held in the Smithsonian’s collections — speak to a life devoted to storytelling, faith by Creator and the land,” Herrell said. “During my time working in the Executive Planning Offices at the National Museum of the American Indian, I came to understand how artists like Larry facilitated open space for Native voices within national institutions.”

After moving to New Mexico, Herrell came to know the Littlebird family personally, including Larry Littlebird’s son, Jesse, whom she sees as “carrying his father’s vision forward through his own filmmaking and art.” Herrell also notes that Littlebird’s widow, Deborah, is “continuing to nurture and protect his legacy through her work with Hamaatsa,” the Indigenous storytelling nonprofit that Deborah and Larry Littlebird cofounded in 2007.

Littlebird’s contributions to education are arguably as extensive as those he made to the arts. John Braman, an education leader who founded the Global Leadership Forum and directs Albuquerque Academy’s Bear Canyon Project, worked with Littlebird on multiple educational projects for more than 40 years.

“His work set a new standard for hands-on learning and left an indelible mark on American education,” Braman said. “It was the merger of Indigenous ways of knowing and modern forms of experiential education that was so transformative. Nature-based, infused with poetry, grounded by radical listening, Larry’s ‘classroom’ explored what can be achieved when we gather in beauty as human beings.”

Littlebird’s work as an educator, artist and storyteller was grounded in his concept of radical listening, which had a transformative effect on many people over the decades, including the Tlingit storyteller Gene Tagaban. Tagaban collaborated with Littlebird on the intercultural Indigenous performance “The Faraway Drum: Raven Speaks, Coyote Sings,” which they presented at Popejoy Hall in 1996.

“One of my first experiences with him was just sitting on top of a mountain, looking down on the other side at wild horses,” Tagaban said. “One of his first instructions, as we were driving out there, (Littlebird) said, ‘From this point on, no words.’ Because he wanted us to listen to everything around us, but also, especially, to our own internal dialog.”

Tagaban said Littlebird taught him how to listen not just with his ears but “with the heart.”

“Larry was a huge influence in my journey — not only through storytelling and theater, but as a way of being. His whole being was for the people,” Tagaban said.

Littlebird’s commitment to bringing authentic Indigenous stories to a wider public led him to collaborate on projects for Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida, and Spaceport America in Truth or Consequences.

“Larry was both a teacher and mentor for me,” said Richard Stone, the CEO of StoryWork International, who invited Littlebird to participate in Disney’s StoryCamp for Leaders program in Orlando.

“His presence wasn’t only mesmerizing, it left an indelible impression on all the business leaders who attended,” Stone said. “Larry’s craft and knowledge as both a storyteller and wisdom keeper will be sorely missed in our world today.”

Duncan Kennedy, the vice president of experience design for IDEAS, visited many historic sites along El Camino Real with Littlebird while researching possible media content for Spaceport America’s Visitor Center.

“I have many memories of Larry sharing stories about Coyote, the simplicity of living in nature, and the beautiful traditions of Pueblo culture,” Kennedy said. “I still tell people about Larry’s remarkable talent as a master storyteller and how he transfixed an audience into rapt attention with the simple opening words of ‘Back in the days when animals could talk ...’”

The Littlebird family has published an obituary at legacy.com/legacy/larry-littlebird, which ends with the following words:

“We will hear your soft melodic voice in the wind, your stories in the stars, your soft singing in the ripples of the water and listen to the voice in the land when we stand still on the ground beneath our feet. And in that early morning light, just before that time of the white dawn, when we hear the Coyotes howling as Creator gathers His People, we will smile with you.”

Anyone who knew Larry Littlebird, or who was inspired by him, is invited to visit the website and leave a message in the guestbook.