Beer can baskets, street signs and now a casino mural: Cahuilla artist Gerald Clarke never sits still

Cahuilla artist Gerald Clarke thinks of new projects in layers, and his latest piece has many.

An expansive mural, which Clarke is live-painting within the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians' casino in Rancho Mirage, is set against a background of steep peaks, a nod to the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains that ring the Coachella Valley and have been home to the Cahuilla people for thousands of years. The next layer is a vertical orange design printed over the mountains, a pattern that Clarke says is reminiscent of ancient petroglyphs.

In a day or two, the heritage-inspired work will also feature a spiky yucca plant, a sun-like circle of wooden rattles (the instrument used in Cahuilla bird singing) and a hummingbird — a small animal that is nevertheless recognized for its power in Cahuilla culture.

"It's paying homage to our traditional culture and our stories," Clarke, a member of the Cahuilla Band of Indians, said of the mural Wednesday during a painting break. "Oftentimes when we talk about Native American history, we talk about the tragedy of it. [But] Native American people are the ultimate success story because we survived genocide."

The mural is being installed on an "art wall" in the casino, one of three gaming facilities in the valley owned by Agua Caliente. Steps away, rows of slot machines flash and whir, adding a 21st-century backdrop to Clarke's project. That juxtaposition works: Clarke wants it to be known that he doesn't create what might be thought of as "Native American art," or outdated, pre-Columbian depictions of Indigenous people that feed into certain stereotypes.

Instead, he wants to express his distinctly Cahuilla perspective as a real person living in 2022 and the "passion, pain and reverence I feel as a contemporary Cahuilla person."

"So what makes my work Native American or Cahuilla? It's the culture that I was brought up in, which colors my perception of the world," he said.

Clarke said he sent Agua Caliente four ideas for the mural, which the tribal council then voted on. One of his daughters, 18-year-old Lily, is now helping him with the project. On Wednesday, she bent over two rattle-shaped pieces of wood, carefully painting thin black stripes onto their surface.

Agua Caliente Chairman Jeff Grubbe described Clarke as a "well-known, respected artist who brings a unique perspective."

"We are thrilled he will be sharing his art with us and our resort guests," he added.

Clarke wears many hats; the artist is also an ethnic studies professor at the University of California, Riverside and a newly appointed member of the California Arts Council. Until his term expired in January, he was a tribal council member for the Cahuilla tribe. On top of all those responsibilities, he runs his family's cattle ranch on the Cahuilla reservation in Anza, about an hour south of Palm Springs.

"Being an academic or being an artist, it's really easy to start living in your head a little too much," he said. "Cows keep it real."

Clarke has brought the "real" world to much of his art. In one previous series, he used hundreds of crushed soda and beer cans to form the look of traditional Cahuilla coiled baskets. One of the giant baskets was exhibited at the Palm Springs Art Museum. He's made bright yellow road signs adorned with Cahuilla phrases and symbols — tukmal or basket, netaxmuqa or "I am singing," and Mukat, the name of the Cahuilla creator.

But Clarke doesn't want to be the "can basket guy" or the "street sign guy," or any other "one-specific-brand guy." Whenever he feels himself getting a little too comfortable with one project, he'll start making something completely different. In fact, the Agua Caliente piece is the first mural he's done after decades in the art world.

"The saddest thing you can do is start plagiarizing yourself," he said.

The mural also serves as a direct way for Clarke to interact with the community. It's hard for a Native artist to place their work where other tribal members can actually view it, he said, because there aren't many contemporary art museums on reservations.

As an artist, "I have responsibilities, I have obligations to my community, to the Indian community," he said. "That's why I'm here."

Amanda Ulrich writes about Native American tribes and desert communities in Southern California for The Desert Sun. Reach out on Twitter at @AmandaCUlrich.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Cahuilla artist Gerald Clarke gets to work on new mural