Note: Gov. George Rivera's sculpture Buffalo Dancer II was installed today at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. A slideshow of the presentation is available for viewing thanks to The Washington Post, which provided the images.

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When Pojoaque Pueblo Gov. George Rivera visits Washington, D.C., on tribal business in the future, he'll have a new piece of artwork to enjoy on his long runs around the capital.

His own bronze sculpture, Buffalo Dancer II, will be installed today in front of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

"It's a great feeling," Rivera said. "It will be nice to see one of my pieces as I'm running by."

The 12-feet-tall, 2,000-pound sculpture depicts a young man performing the Buffalo Dance.

"We've been doing the Buffalo Dance for many years now," Rivera explained. "We celebrate the animal — the buffalo — because it provides food and is part of the well being of the pueblo and it has been for centuries the livelihood of Native Americans across the country."

When Kevin Gover, the director of the national museum, visited the pueblo's Buffalo Thunder Resort and Casino for a conference a few months ago, Rivera showed him his Buffalo Dancer sculpture on permanent display in front of the resort's Hilton Hotel. Last year Rivera created a duplicate of the 2007 original, which Gover chose for the museum in Washington. (The pieces are based on a 1997, 21-inch maquette.)

"That piece is going to get some attention because it's a powerful subject matter," Rivera predicted.

But, he added, "It's just important that Native people get recognition," he said. "This bronze is about a living culture — it's not a historic piece. It may look historic, but that's because this dance has been done (for generations); I've done it, my kids do it and future generations will do it."

Rivera got interested in art while a student at Santa Fe High School. In a ceramics class, he said, "I just got hooked on working with clay — throwing it on the potter's wheel. My high-school art teacher helped direct me into art school. There really wasn't anything else that I wanted to do more than that — that's how you know it's right."

Rivera earned an associate's degree in fine arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts, and a bachelor's degree from the California College of Arts and Crafts. He then traveled to France to teach at the Lacoste School of Arts. While in France, he apprenticed with a Japanese stone carver.

"For me, I can sense the life in the stone when I'm carving out shapes and figures," Rivera said. "I try to make it to where I can feel the pieces moving and try to give it the best potential for revealing the life of the stone along with the subject matter."

Other things also inspire him, he said, "all the way from the formation of the clouds to the ceremonies that I see around the landscape of New Mexico."

Rivera's wife, Felicia, his son Paa Wee, daughter Poqueen and new baby boy, Valentino, each has a little piece of the family's 2,400-square-foot studio.

"It's kind of a neat setup," Rivera said. "Everybody comes in — even my baby who is one-and-a-half and barely speaking. I say, 'Let's go to the studio,' and he gets really excited. It's a really exciting place for everybody to go and create."

Contact Ana Maria Trujillo at 986-3084 or atrujillo@sfnewmexican.com.