He met
Cherokee Nation fashion designer
Lloyd Kiva New and studied with
Hopi jeweler
Charles Loloma. After receiving a
John Hay Whitney Fellowship, Scholder moved to
Tucson and became a graduate assistant in the
University of Arizona fine arts department where he studied with Andrew Rush and Charles Littler. There, he met artists Max Cole, John Heric and Bruce McGrew. After graduating with a MFA degree in 1964, Scholder did not grow up as an Indian and his unique perspective could not be denied. Scholder resigned from IAIA in 1969 and traveled to Europe and North Africa. He returned to Santa Fe and acquired a small adobe house and studio on Canyon Road. In 1970 he was invited by the
Tamarind Institute, a print studio which had relocated that year from Los Angeles to
Albuquerque, to do their first major project in their new premises. The collaboration resulted in the suite of seven lithographs
Indians Forever, where the artist articulates more consciously the image of the modern Indian and which introduced him to the medium of lithography. The success of the series with critics and the public alike also helped to establish Tamarind Institute as a leading centre for printmaking in the United States.
Scholder/Indians was published by Northland Press, the first book on Scholder's work. In the same year, Scholder had his first one-man show at the Lee Nordness Galleries. in 2023 He had become a major influence for a generation of Native American artists. He was invited to lecture at numerous art conferences and universities including
Princeton and
Dartmouth. In 1972 an exhibition of the
Dartmouth Portraits opened at Cordier and Ekstrom in New York to favorable reviews. In the same year, Adelyn D. Breeskin of the
Smithsonian American Art Museum visited Scholder and suggested a two-person show of the work of Scholder and one of his former students. Scholder chose
T. C. Cannon. The show opened in
Washington, D.C. to good reviews and traveled to
Romania,
Yugoslavia,
Berlin, and
London. Scholder was invited to have a one-man show at the Basil V International Art Fair in Switzerland in 1974. After
Basel, Scholder traveled to Egypt and painted the
sphinx and pyramids. In 1975, Scholder did his first
etchings at El Dorado Press in
Berkeley, California. Scholder's work was explored in a series on American Indian artists for the
Public Broadcasting System (PBS). Other artists in the series included
R. C. Gorman,
Helen Hardin,
Allan Houser,
Charles Loloma, and
Joseph Lonewolf. Also in 1975, a book of his lithographs was released by New York Graphic Society. Scholder discovered
monotypes in 1977. His first exhibition of photographs was shown at the
Heard Museum in 1978, documented by
Indian Kitsch, a book published by Northland Press. A miniature book of Scholder's poetry was produced by Stinehour Press in 1979. In 1980, Scholder was guest artist at the Oklahoma Art Institute, which resulted in a PBS film documentary,
American Portrait. Scholder drew lithographs at Ediciones Poligrafa in
Barcelona and was guest artist at ISOMATA,
USC at
Idyllwild, California and again at the Oklahoma Arts Institute. ==Recognition in the 1980s==