Bunky paints live!

Bunky Echo-Hawk takes the stage with live paintingHe invited the audience to call out suggestions to be written down and put in one of two hats--one for issues facing Native Americans and the other for words that described modern mainstream America. The former received suggestions ranging from "domestic violence" and "identity" to "mascots" and "Disney's Pocahontas." Into the second hat went "fast food," "immigration" and "Britney Spears," as well as "democracy" and "diversity."

Once all the terms were collected, Echo-Hawk announced, "I'm going to get an Indian Vanna White to come up and draw a word from each hat." The two terms chosen were "overindulgence" and "Christianization of indigenous people."

The painting that resulted from Echo-Hawk's labor featured a dominant orange-skinned figure dressed as a priest and holding a Bible, pointing forcefully at the viewer in a pose reminiscent of the "Uncle Sam Wants You" U.S. Army recruitment poster. The priest's hat was decorated with an American flag pattern, and his shirt had the beginnings of a word started with "Mc" as in "McDonald's." Echo-Hawk asked the audience for suggestions as to what the Mc-word should be, garnering suggestions such as "McSalvation" and "McChrist", until one word finally captured popular opinion--"McBelieve."