Joseph L. Erb

Joseph Erb was born on January 7, 1974, and currently lives in Gore, Oklahoma. He earned his Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He used his artistic skills to teach Muscogee Creek and Cherokee students how to animate traditional stories.[http://www.nativenetworks.si.edu/eng/rose/erb_j.htm Native Networks: Joseph Erb.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130911045038/http://nativenetworks.si.edu/eng/rose/erb_j.htm |date=2013-09-11 }} National Museum of the American Indian. March 2004 (retrieved 13 July 2009) He currently serves on the board of the Cherokee Arts and Humanities Council.[http://cherokeeculture.org/home/about_us About Us.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110206192018/http://cherokeeculture.org/home/about_us |date=2011-02-06 }} The Cherokee Arts and Humanities Council. (retrieved 13 July 2009)

Erb created the first Cherokee animation in the Cherokee language, The Beginning They Told. The 11-minute animated piece relays parts of the Cherokee's creation story, featuring Buzzard, Beaver, and the Water Beetle, who brings fire to humanity.Murg, Wilhelm. [http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/archive/28177384.html May I Suggest... 'The Beginning They Told' by Joseph Erb.] Indian Country Today. 18 March 2004 (retrieved 13 July 2009)

He combines traditional storytelling with 21st-century technology as a means of teaching the Cherokee language to young people. His work has frequently been screened by the National Museum of the American Indian. "We're competing with mass culture," Erb says. "The kids have a choice; they can watch our animation or they can watch Elmo. You have to compete with all of that so the children will want to know their traditional stories and their language."

Besides collaborating with students to produce animation in their tribal languages, Erb also produce educational material, such as animated shorts of animals singing numbers and colors in Cherokee. The animated format provides a solution for the challenge of relaying what is traditional oral history to the next generation.Teuton, Christopher B. "Theorizing American Indian Literature: Applying Oral Concepts to Written Traditions." [https://books.google.com/books?id=Zj79HmexugcC&dq=Joseph+Erb+Cherokee&pg=PA194 Reasoning Together: The Native Critics Collective.] Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2008: 194. {{ISBN|978-0-8061-3887-9}}. (Retrieved through Google Books, 13 July 2009)

Erb trained and mentors his colleagues, Roy Boney Jr. (Cherokee Nation), Matt Mason (Cherokee) and Nathan Young (Pawnee-Delaware-Kiowa), and together their work has established Tahlequah, Oklahoma as the "Indian Animation Capital".Twist, Kade. [http://www.nativepeoples.com/article/articles/267/1/Indigenous-Animation-Movement-Rising/Page1.html/print/267 Brave New Worlds: Indian Animation Movement.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080808115942/http://www.nativepeoples.com/article/articles/267/1/Indigenous-Animation-Movement-Rising/Page1.html/print/267 |date=2008-08-08 }} Native Peoples Magazine. 1 Nov 2007 (retrieved 13 July 2009)

His work is shown at Native film festival throughout the United States and currently his work is supported in part by the Cherokee Nation. Mason, Boney, and Erb formed a production company called Cherokee Robot.

Erb's collaboration with students has led to some surprising new developments in the retelling of oral histories. Muscogee Creek middle school students and Erb created a video that combined animation, claymation and diorama sets to tell the story of Indian Removal. Their account has the Muscogee Creeks, freezing on the Trail of Tears, traveling through space to Paris, France, where beret-wearing Frenchmen teach the Creeks to stomp dance. Rabbit, the Muscogee Trickster, steals a coal of fire from the French and takes it back to the Creeks on their way to Indian Territory.Foster, Tol. "Of One Blood: An Argument for Relations and Regionality in Native American Literary Studies." [https://books.google.com/books?id=Zj79HmexugcC&dq=Joseph+Erb+Cherokee&pg=PA194 Reasoning Together: The Native Critics Collective.] Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2008: 271. {{ISBN|978-0-8061-3887-9}}. (Retrieved through Google Books, 13 July 2009)

In 2023, Erb debuted Rabbit Stories, an animated short film in the Cherokee language.{{cite web |last1=Bark |first1=Lindsey |title=Erb's animated short film 'Rabbit Stories' premieres |url=https://www.cherokeephoenix.org/entertainment/erb-s-animated-short-film-rabbit-stories-premieres/article_6aa36f8c-03ad-11ee-b200-8b7efd7f704e.html |website=Cherokee Phoenix|date=5 June 2023 }} The film stars Wes Studi.{{cite web |title=Rabbit Stories (2023) |url=https://www.atlantascififilmfestival.com/films/rabbit-stories |website=Atlanta Sci-Fi Film Festival}}

Erb is also a fine artist. He addresses contemporary realities facing Indian people through his sculpture, paintings, and jewelry.http://www.blackgummountain.com/Blackgum_Mountain/Metal.html{{Dead link|date=December 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} The Cherokee Heritage Center in Park Hill, Oklahoma frequently exhibits his work.Yantz, Mickel. [http://www.cherokeeheritage.org/museum/special_exhibits/TOTAS.html 2009 Trail of Tears Art Show.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725161942/http://www.cherokeeheritage.org/museum/special_exhibits/TOTAS.html |date=2011-07-25 }} Cherokee Heritage Center. 2009 (retrieved 13 July 2009) Several of his paintings are a part of the permanent collection at the Sequoyah National Research Center in Little Rock, Arkansas.

• Rabbit Stories (2023) director
• "Trail of Tears" (2009) producer
• Hero (2007)
• Day and Night (2005) director
• Messenger (2004) director
• How the Rabbit Lost His Tail (2003) producer
• How the Redbird Got His Color (2003) producer
• Mapohiceto/Not Listening (2003) producer
• The Beginning They Told (2003) producer, director

{{Reflist}}

{{North American Indigenous visual artists}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erb, Joseph}}

Category:American animated film directors

Category:American animated film producers

Category:Cherokee Nation artists

Category:Native American filmmakers

Category:Living people

Category:1974 births

Category:Sculptors from Oklahoma

Category:People from Gore, Oklahoma

Category:Native American painters

Category:Native American sculptors

Category:21st-century American painters

Category:21st-century Native American artists

Category:21st-century American sculptors