Nerburn, Kent 1946–

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NERBURN, Kent 1946–

(Kent Michael Nerburn)

PERSONAL:

Born July 3, 1946, in Minneapolis, MN. Education: University of Minnesota, B.A. (summa cum laude), 1968; attended Stanford University, 1970; Graduate Theological Union, Ph.D. (with distinction), 1980; studied wood sculpture technique in Marburg, Germany, 1971, life drawing with Helmut Schmitt, 1974-76, stone sculpture technique in Pietrasanta, Italy, 1976, and anatomy with Herbert Shrebnik, 1976.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Bemidji, MN.

CAREER:

St. Paul Pioneer Press & Dispatch, St. Paul, MN, visual arts critic, 1986-87; Arts magazine, sculpture writer, 1986-88; Northern Arts Reviewer, Bemidji, MN, founder and visual arts critic, 1988; Minnesota Discipline-based Art Education Consortium, Minneapolis, art criticism specialist, 1988—. Minneapolis Institute of the Arts, Minneapolis, instructor, 1985-86; Robbinsdale School District, lecturer in art criticism, 1987-88; Bemidji State University, Bemidji, MN, visiting professor, 1988. Director of oral history project, Red Lake Ojibwa reservation, MN. Consultant in curriculum development, American Indian Institute, Norman, OK. Program evaluator, Minnesota Humanities Commission, St. Paul, MN.

WRITINGS:

(Compiler, with Louise Mengelkoch) Native American Wisdom, New World Library (San Rafael, CA), 1991.

(Editor and arranger) Charles Alexander Eastman, The Soul of an Indian and Other Writings from Ohiyesa, New World Library (San Rafael, CA), 1993.

Letters to My Son: Reflections on Becoming a Man, New World Library (San Rafael, CA), 1993, published as Letters to My Son: A Father's Wisdom on Manhood, Women, Life, and Love, 1994, 2nd edition, 1999.

Neither Wolf nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder, New World Library (San Rafael, CA), 1994.

(Compiler) The Wisdom of the Great Chiefs: The Classic Speeches of Chief Red Jacket, Chief Joseph, and Chief Seattle, New World Library (San Rafael, CA), 1994.

Simple Truths: Clear and Gentle Guidance on the Big Issues of Life, New World Library (Novato, CA), 1996.

A Haunting Reverence: Meditations on a Northern Land, New World Library (Novato, CA), 1996.

Small Graces: The Quiet Gifts of Everyday Life, New World Library (Novato, CA), 1998, reprinted, MJF Books (New York, NY), 2001.

(Compiler and editor) Wisdom of the Native Americans, New World Library (Novato, CA), 1999.

Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace: Living in the Spirit of the Prayer of St. Francis, Harper (San Francisco, CA), 1999.

Calm Surrender: Walking the Hard Road of Forgiveness, New World Library (Novato, CA), 2000.

Road Angels: Searching for Home on America's Coast of Dreams, Harper (San Francisco, CA), 2001.

Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy, Harper (San Francisco, CA), 2005.

The Hidden Beauty of Everyday Life, New World Library (Novato, CA), 2006.

Contributor of art criticism and reviews to Arts magazine.

SIDELIGHTS:

Kent Nerburn enjoys a multi-faceted career as an artist and as an author whose writings reflect his training in theology and his long association with Native Americans. As a sculptor, Nerburn studied with masters in Europe and the United States, and his work has been frequently exhibited in his native Minnesota. He is also a widely published art critic and longtime educator. However, Nerburn's books are not primarily about art. Rather, they reflect (as does much of his sculpture) his intense interest in the life of the spirit.

Although not himself a Native American, Nerburn has been strongly influenced by North American tribal customs and beliefs on such topics as the environment and personal property. Nerburn's first book, Native American Wisdom, compiled with Louise Mengelkoch, quotes Native American leaders of the past and present on such topics as "The Ways of the Land" and "The Ways of the White Man." Biographical and historical notes enhance the book's instructional value. A second collection, The Soul of an Indian and Other Writings from Ohiyesa, presents the thought of Santee leader Ohiyesa (Charles Alexander Eastman). Nerburn called the book a "reconfiguration" of Ohiyesa's writings, "chosen from a variety of sources, woven together in a way that gives voice to the spiritual vision that animated all his writing and speaking."

Becoming a father prompted Nerburn to write Letters to My Son: Reflections on Becoming a Man, a series of essays in which the author explores the meanings and problems of masculinity. Topics include concrete issues like drug abuse to more philosophical concerns, such as the spiritual journey to manhood. Though presented as a guide to life for the young male, chapters titled "Fatherhood" and "Staying Faithful" clearly address men in a position like Nerburn's own. "Unabashed maleness is part of the book's appeal," observed Griff Wigley in the Utne Reader. Del Cain commented in the Library Journal that the "essays are delightfully lyrical in tone."

In Neither Wolf nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder, Nerburn tells the story of his journey with Dan, a Lakota elder who for seven decades has filled notebooks with his "diatribes, and political and social commentaries," according to Kevin Roddy in Booklist. Nerburn worries in his introduction that the book will be interpreted by some as a cynical exploitation of Indian chic, or another shallow purging of white guilt, but Neither Wolf nor Dog was well received by critics, who have praised its harsh honesty and emotional power. Chip Barker in the Whole Earth Review suggested that the book made him "more aware of the history and contemporary life of Indian people and hopefully more human." Similarly, Roddy deemed the work "a truthful, fiery, and, ultimately, cleansing dialogue between Indian and white."

With Simple Truths: Clear and Gentle Guidance on the Big Issues of Life, Nerburn returns to the blend of practical and spiritual advice-giving that proved popular in Letters to My Son, but without a specifically male focus. Drawing on the author's theological training and life experiences, Simple Truths offers guidance on major life issues, from love to money to death.

Respect for nature, a recurring theme in Nerburn's earlier work, is the basis of A Haunting Reverence: Meditations on a Northern Land, a book inspired by the grandeur of the North American plains where Nerburn has spent most of his life. Both a critique of a shallow, distracted society and an invitation to a deeper understanding of the land and one's place in it, A Haunting Reverence pays further tribute to the Native American philosophies that were so influential in forming Nerburn's own spiritual outlook.

Nerburn's Road Angels: Searching for Home on America's Coast of Dreams follows the author as he travels down the Pacific Coast Highway through Washington, Oregon, and California. The trip affords Nerburn an opportunity to reflect on his mid-life concerns, on the lure of the West Coast, and on how the nation has changed since the end of the 1960s. A Publishers Weekly reviewer praised the book for its "immediacy and palpability," and Tom Di Nanni, writing in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, praised the work for its "remarkably profound insight into how the land each of us claims affects every aspect of our lives." A contributor to Spiritualrx.com concluded that Nerburn "writes beautifully with appreciation for the dynamics of place and the lovable idiosyncrasies of the human spirit."

In Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy, Nerburn offers "an intriguing twist to a legendary saga," according toBooklist critic Deborah Donovan. Exiled from their homeland in 1877, the Nez Perce tribe avoided capture by U.S. troops for months, until they were surrounded near the Canadian border. Upon their surrender, Chief Joseph delivered an eloquent speech that "earned him a spot as one of America's great orators," noted a critic in Kirkus Reviews. The tribe was later forced onto a small reservation in Idaho. "While Joseph's symbolic importance as 'America's premier Indian' bloomed," noted a Publishers Weekly reviewer, "the actual Nez Perce dwindled toward extinction." In his book, "Nerburn challenges the myths that have grown around Joseph by illuminating the roles of other Nez Perce chiefs … in the aborted journey to freedom," commented Library Journal contributor John Burch.

On his Web site, Nerburn stated: "My work has been a constant search, from various perspectives, for an authentic American spirituality, integrating our western Judeo-Christian tradition with the other traditions of the world, and especially the indigenous spirituality of the people who first inhabited this continent." He added: "I am deeply concerned with the human condition and our responsibility to the earth, the people on it, and the generations to come. I believe that we are, at heart, spiritual beings seeking spiritual meaning, and I try to honor this search wherever I discover it in the course of my daily life."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Booklist, November 1, 1994, Kevin Roddy, review of Neither Wolf nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder, p. 476; September 1, 2005, Deborah Donovan, review of Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy, p. 48.

Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2005, review of Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce, p. 961.

Library Journal, March 1, 1993, Del Cain, review of Letters to My Son: A Father's Wisdom on Manhood, Women, Life and Love, p. 96; October 1, 2005, John Burch, review of Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce, p. 90.

Minneapolis Star Tribune, July 14, 2001, Tom Di Nanni, "Writer Shares His Spiritual Journey."

National Catholic Reporter, February 24, 2006, Rich Heffern, "The Long Retreat of the Nez Perce," p. 15.

People, January 9, 2006, Sue Corbett, Maria Speidel, and Natalie Danford, "Picks and Pans," review of Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce, p. 41.

Publishers Weekly, June 18, 2001, review of Road Angels: Searching for Home on America's Coast of Dreams, p. 74; July 18, 2005, review of Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce, p. 192; April 24, 2006, review of The Hidden Beauty of Everyday Life, p. 46.

Reference & Research Book News, February, 2006, review of Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce.

Utne Reader, September-October, 1993, Griff Wigley, review of Letters to My Son, pp. 119-120.

Whole Earth Review, spring, 1996, Chip Barker, review of Neither Wolf nor Dog, p. 78.