“It really took a toll and I got to see that firsthand,” he said. “There was a lot of information that was lost and a lot of knowledge that was lost.”

Tamayo learned a lot about the arts in Omaha, but didn’t speak Lakota. He spent time with elders, learning the language and trying to glean what he could.

“I’ve been visiting with grandmas and grandpas that told me everything they could remember,” he said.

He taught classes and made curriculum for traditional art techniques. In one of his classes, students skinned a bison and learned different techniques to tan the hide. They learned how to make rawhide for containers and shields and soften hides for clothes and shoes.

Tamayo also looked at how those arts changed over time. For example, when tribes traded with the English for wool blankets, the women would convert those blankets into dresses. They also used shells from African and Chinese coins from Chinese railroad workers in their clothing in different eras. He had students make an outfit for a doll that represented the clothing from a specific time period.

And he saw the effect that learning and practicing these arts had on his students.