FırstAmericanArt MAGAZINE
Art of Indigenous Peoples of the Americas
No. 6, Spring 2015
Judith Lowry Nadia Myre Alex J. Peña Troy Sice
Grupo Sotz’il Maya Theater Storming Canada: Carl Ray Art of the Tarahumara Hoop Dancing
Shan Goshorn www.shangoshorn.com Heard Fair Phoenix, AZ March 7 & 8 Booth D-25
INTERTWINED: Stories of a Splintered Past Shan Goshorn & Sarah Sense at the Tulsa Arts & Humanities Council, Hardesty Arts Center (AHHA), May 1–July 5, 2015
Reclaiming Our Power, double-woven paper basket addressing VAWA (Violence Against Women Act)
WORKSHOPS AND FESTIVAL
First American Art Magazine, LLC Issue No. 6, Spring 2015 ISSN 2333-5548 (Print) • ISSN 2333-5556 (Online) Publishing Editor: America Meredith (Cherokee Nation) Literary Editor: Reid Gómez (Navajo Nation) Marketing Director: Barbara Harjo Copy Editors: Rebecca Hammer, Samonia Byford (Cherokee Nation), Rosa Cays (Chicana) Proofreader: Rosa Cays (Chicana) Layout and Design: America Meredith (Cherokee Nation) Editorial Advisory Board: heather ahtone (Chickasaw-Choctaw) Emily Haozous, PhD, RN (Chiricahua Fort Sill Apache) Linda Lomahaftewa (Hopi-Choctaw) Maggie Ohnesorgen (Mestiza) Paula Rivera (Taos Pueblo) Mary Jo Watson, PhD (Seminole) Ken Williams Jr. (Northern Arapaho-Seneca) Advertising Representatives, ads@firstamericanartmagazine.com Barbara Harjo, Oklahoma and West Coast Nancy Strickland Fields (Lumbee), Midwest and East Alex Ponca Stock (Osage Nation), Southwest and Great Plains Social Media: Jacquie Archambeau (Cherokee Nation), Staci Golar (Cornish-Welsh-American), America Meredith (Cherokee Nation) Thanks to: Jeri Ah-Be-Hill (Kiowa), Krystle Brewer, Kelly Church (OdawaOjibwe-Potawatomi), Holly Coonsis (Zuni), Sterling J. Cosper (Muscogee Creek), Ric Denney (Muscogee Creek), Karl Duncan (San Carlos ApacheArikara-Hidatsa-Mandan), Ryan Flahive, Jane Fried, David Gaertner, Teri Greeves (Kiowa), Heather Gross, Grace Horne, Topaz Jones (ShoshoneLummi-Kalapuya-Molalla), Amanda Hodges, Colleen Lucero (Hopi), Tricia Milford-Hoyt, Jason Ordaz, Mike Patten (Cree), Denise Phetteplace, Lisa Quirion, Erica Rasmussen, Joseph Sanchez (Mestizo), Heather A. Shannon, Jamey Shelton, Tatiana Lomahaftewa Singer (Hopi-Choctaw), Neebinnaukzhik Southall (Rama Chippewa), Yvonne Stokes, Melissa Talachy (Pojoaque), Dyani White Hawk (Sicangu Lakota), and Cease Wyss (Skwxwu7mesh-Sto:Lo-Métis-Hawaiian-Swiss). For subscription services, changes of address, and wholesale inquiries, please email circulation@firstamericanartmagazine.com First American Art Magazine is not responsible for the content of any article or for the statements of any advertiser. First American Art Magazine welcomes queries about editorial submissions. The magazine is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, or artwork.
Idyllwild Arts Summer Program - The summer tradition that began in 1950 to bring the best artists in their fields to teach under the pines continues today. Intensive hands-on workshops in Native American Arts such as Hopi Jewelry, Navajo Weaving, Cahuilla Pottery, and Native Plants; as well as music, dance, theater, visual arts, writing and filmmaking are offered to students from age 5 to 105. Each year more than 1,800 adults and children attend the Idyllwild Arts Summer Program.
Registration begins Feb 2, 2015 summer@idyllwildarts.org 951.468.7265
idyllwildarts.org #iamtheIdyllwild
First American Art Magazine 3334 W. Main St. #442 Norman, OK 73072 www.firstamericanartmagazine.com info@firstamericanartmagazine.com Copyright © 2015 by First American Art Magazine, LLC. Cover and contents are fully protected by copyright and may not be reproduced in whole or part by any method without written permission, except those specific images listed with Creative Commons licenses. All reasonable efforts have been made to identify and contact copyright holders, but in some cases these could not be traced. If you hold or administer rights for materials published here, please contact us. Any errors or omissions will be corrected in subsequent editions. Letters to the editor are welcome and may be mailed to: First American Art Magazine Attention: Editor 3334 W. Main St. #442 Norman, OK 73072 or emailed to info@firstamericanartmagazine.com. First American Art Magazine is a Papyrus font-free publication.
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ISSUE NO. 6, SPRING 2015 FEATURES Dancing with Fire: The Majestic and Dangerous Work of Grupo Sotz’il Heidi McKinnon
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Storming Canada: 24 Carl Ray, Indigenous Representation, and the Sacred Legends Matthew Ryan Smith, PhD Tarahumara People and Their Art: When the Ordinary Becomes Unique Cathy Short (Citizen Potawatomi)
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Through the Sacred Circle A Brief History of the Hoop Dance in North America RoseMary Diaz (Santa Clara Pueblo)
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ARTIST PROFILES Judith Lowry (Mountain 50 Maidu-Pit River-Washoe) Melissa Melero (Northern Paiute-Modoc) 56
Alex J. Peña (Comanche-Pawnee-San Ildefonso) Suzanne Newman Fricke, PhD
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Troy Sice (Zuni) America Meredith (Cherokee Nation)
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Recent Developments
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Seven Directions : Gloria Bell (Métis)
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Exploring Native Graphic Design Byting Willows Katja Lehmann (German)
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In Memoriam: Gina Gray (Osage Nation) Louis Gray (Osage Nation) 56
Nadia Myre (Kitigan Zibi Algonquin) Matthew Ryan Smith, PhD
DEPARTMENTS
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Bob Hicks (Muscogee Creek) Joseph Erb (Cherokee Nation)
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Josephine Wapp (Comanche) Ed Wapp Jr. (Comanche-Sac and Fox)
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Art + Literature: Interview with and poetry by Cedar Sigo (Suquamish) by Reid Gómez (Navajo Nation) Images: Topaz Jones (ShoshoneLummi-Kalapuya-Molalla)
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REVIEWS Art Exhibit Reviews
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Book Reviews
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Show Report
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COVER: Alex J. Peña (Comanche-PawneeSan Ildefonso), detail of Remnants of Certainty #1, 2013, acrylic with mixed media on panel, 14 × 11 in. Photo: Alex J. Peña. Image courtesy of the artist.
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Editor’s Greetings
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NTERING OUR THIRD YEAR of publication, First American Art Magazine took a huge leap of faith on the part of everyone who made it possible. An anonymous writer suggests, “To expose your ideas, your dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss. But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.” Grupo Sotz’il, a Kaqchikel Maya theater troupe in Guatemala, has taken the greatest risks. By breathing life into ancient Maya stories, members of the troupe have been attacked by those loyal to a political culture and colonial-era ideology considered to be one of the most oppressive toward Indigenous peoples in the Western Hemisphere. The bravery of Grupo Sotz’il is awe-inspiring, as is their commitment to sharing the philosophy and cosmology of their ancestors to audiences today. The late Carl Ray (Cree, 1943–1978) was a member of the Professional Native Indian Artists, Inc., also known as the “Indian Group of Seven.” Now the group is celebrated, but at the time, the artists’ dealers warned them joining this group would harm their careers. According to fellow member Joseph Sanchez (Tewa descent), Ray took risks in that “he embodied himself in his work. He communicated with animals in the manner he painted. He didn’t just paint the legends; he became the legend.”1 Tarahumara people have risked poverty and isolation to live on their ancestral lands. The tourist trade that commodifies artwork is often denigrated; however, selling their basketry, weaving, woodcarving, and other artistic expressions enables the Tarahumara to participate in the cash economy and remain on their lands. Art making should not be a vocation reserved only for the independently wealthy. In hoop dance competitions, dancers compete against each other, but more importantly, they challenge themselves. Watching the Pojoaque Youth Hoop Dancers perform at Buffalo Thunder Resort, I was moved by seeing young children performing extraordinary athletic feats but also making mistakes on stage, in front of a large audience, only to recover and keep dancing. A gamble can result in failure, but finding the strength and confidence to keep going is powerful. Our profiled artists are chosen for their challenging, complex, and culturally engaged work. The art market does not always reward these traits. Troy Sice is evolving and exploring new expressions in Zuni carving, marrying precontact materials with exotic stones. Alex J. Peña is driven by his passion for mark making and complex printmaking processes, instead of giving the public the overtly Native themes it expects. Nadia Myre is willing to criticize the Canadian government and allow others to speak about their trauma in her art projects. Judith Lowry took time from a successful painting career to educate her community about an unrecognized tribe. I’m profoundly grateful to all the artists, curators, and writers throughout this issue who venture into the world, try new approaches, stumble, rise up, and ultimately prevail in their commitment to their vision and that of their peoples. —America Meredith 1. Joseph Sanchez in discussion with the author, January 15, 2015.
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Letters to FAAM Dear Lara and America, Thank you both so much for all of your accommodations. Larry and I appreciate all the extra measures you both took all along the way … and we look forward to working with you again soon! Debi McNeil Boise, ID Congrats on your work with First American Art Magazine. Keep up the good work, and have many years of success. George Longfish South Berwick, ME
Mapuche Silverwork Greetings from Oklahoma. I wanted to commend FAAM for another great issue! The article on Mapuche silver was amazing. I am always impressed with the artworks of our Brothers and Sisters of South America. Oftentimes Indigenous peoples are separated by the false boundaries imposed upon us by outsiders, and this article helps to tear down those boundaries. I am dually impressed with the attention to the amazing creativity of the women and men featured in the issue. It strikes a great (and modern) balance between the two. This publication also does a great job of presenting contemporary Native culture and art, as well as putting these concepts and ideas into a context that goes beyond what other magazines provide! On a final note, it was awesome to come across copies of the Winter 2014 issue in the Hastings in Norman, Oklahoma. Huge thanks goes out to the individuals who gather together to make this wonderful magazine. I am looking forward to an excellent 2015 for FAAM. Hoka Skenandore Shawnee, OK
Fish Skin as a Textile Material Thanks to Nadia Sethi, PhD, for her fascinating article about the wide array of uses for fish skin. I always enjoy articles written about traditional methods of making clothing, as they explain how they were made, what they were used for, the revival of a utilitarian form of creating before it is lost to time, and the availability of contemporary clothing today. In the fish skin article, Sethi explains everything that came from the land and water is to be respected, used to protect a person, and to be most useful against the harsh environment. Not only for clothing, fish skins were used for containers, storage, food, and shelters. Thank you for a well-written article and the knowledge that educators are willing to pass this knowledge on to both Native and non-Native students. Mike Taylor Oklahoma City, OK
Debra Villa and Jessica Clark After a long perusal of Issue No. 5 of First American Art Magazine, I came away feeling justified in my beliefs concerning the Indian art of our hemisphere. Although there are historic themes in Indian art, there has to be a point where you, as the artist, go beyond the bounds of history. There are points where history meets the future on a regular basis, and it must occur in order to propagate the artistic impressions and interpretations. Two articles especially caught my eye and made rereading a necessity. The story of a Native graphic designer, Deborah Villa, was a spot of inspiration for those of us who look forward to a new wave of expressions and media. On the other end of the spectrum is Jessica Clark, a Lumbee painter whose art is expansive, vivid, and narrative. First, the article about Deborah Villa’s work spoke to me of a person’s determination to find her niche in art, while not discounting all the experiences that brought her to where she is today. When she became disillusioned with the fine art world and rebelled, I smiled, remembering a young lady close to me that did the same thing. So much in her experience that contributes to who she is and what she does today. She has gone outside the box of the traditional and connects to the present and the future. Secondly, the young Lumbee painter Jessica Clark, whose work has been described as “nostalgic themes of idyllic Americana through a Native lens” by Nancy Strickland Fields. I was particularly impressed that she went outside the box to express what was in her head and her heart. Her colors flow together to present a beautiful story on canvas. The best part is she is teaching the next generation, but has not stopped exhibiting her work to a larger audience. This magazine has opened my mind and perspective concerning media and expressions of any art. I did not realize how eclectic my tastes really are. My mother attended the Santa Fe Indian School in the 1930s, was proficient in weaving, and greatly appreciated her time there. I was always a great fan of Southwest art, especially pottery, because of her influence. As beautiful as that is, there is a whole world of ideas and art where there are Native people. Thank you for the production of this “work of art” magazine, and I look forward to following issues to follow the evolution of Native arts in all media. Carol J. Swindell Anadarko, OK We welcome letters to the editor! If we print your letter, we will send you a free copy of that issue of the magazine. Please email your letters to us at: info@firstamericanartmagazine.com ormail letters to: First American Art Magazine Attention: Editor 3334 W. Main St. #442 Norman, OK 73072 SPR I NG 2 0 1 5
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Contributing Writers ROSEMARY DIAZ (Santa Clara Pueblo) is a freelance
writer based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her work has been widely published over the last 20 years, appearing in such periodicals as Beadwork, Collector’s Guide, Native Peoples, New Mexico Magazine, North Dakota Quarterly, and Santa Fean. She writes an original, online series, Native Foodways: New Seasons for Indian Country Today Media Network.
JOSEPH ERB (Cherokee Nation) is a computer animator,
film producer, educator, language technologist, and artist. He earned his MFA degree in sculpture from the University of Pennsylvania. Erb created the first computer animation in the Cherokee language, The Beginning They Told. He has taught Muscogee Creek and Cherokee students how to animate traditional stories. Erb works for the Cherokee Nation Education Service in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
SUZANNE NEWMAN FRICKE, PhD (Ashkenazic-
American), wrote her dissertation in art history on 20thcentury Native American pottery at the University of New Mexico. She teaches art history at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design. In 2012, along with Beverly Morris (Aleut) and Charlie James, Fricke co-curated the exhibit Octopus Dreams: Works on Paper by Contemporary Native American Artists, which traveled to six sites in Russia and to 516 ARTS in Albuquerque. In 2014, two museums in Russia displayed another show, As We See It: Photography by Contemporary Native American Artists, curated by Dr. Fricke and India Young, who are preparing an accompanying catalogue. She is currently organizing a third show, which will also travel to Russia.
REID GÓMEZ, PhD (Navajo Nation), is the Mellon
Visiting Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies at Kalamazoo College. She is currently working on The Navajo Slave Project and finishing her fourth novel. Her work addresses extermination and slavery in the borderlands and bloodlands and language revitalization.
LOUIS GRAY (Osage) is the former coordinator of the
Primary Residential Treatment Center in the Osage Nation. From 2002 to 2014, he managed Native American Times, a weekly newspaper. Gray has won numerous awards, including the Charles Chibitty Community Service Award, as an individual (2002) and as a member of family (2003); the Williams Companies Diversity Award (2004); Best Straight Dancer in Indian Country (2001), and Best Editorial from the Oklahoma Press Association (1991).
SCOTT W. HALE is an adviser and accredited art appraiser for Native American Art Appraisals, Inc., with offices in Los Angeles, Santa Fe, Tulsa, and New York City. He pursued his master’s and doctoral studies at the University of Oklahoma, where he taught in the Native American Studies program and 8 | WWW.FIRSTAMERICANARTMAGAZINE.COM
lectured in the School of Art and Art History. Hale is a former curator of private, corporate, and nonprofit art collections and has written and lectured for several publications and museums.
ANNA HOOVER (Unangax̂) earned both her master
of arts degree in Native American art history and master of communications degree in Indigenous documentary filmmaking from the University of Washington. She is an artist, curator, filmmaker, educator, and community organizer, based in Anchorage, Alaska. Hoover is the daughter of the widely respected late sculptor John Hoover.
KATJA LEHMANN, PhD (German), is a curator,
writer, archaeologist, and collector of contemporary Native American art, including Hopi katsinam. She earned her doctoral degree in Egyptology, classics, and European prehistory from Ruprechts-Karls-Universität Heidelberg in 2001 and had multiple museum internships at the Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst, Munich; Rem Reiss-EngelhornMuseen, Mannheim, and the Egyptian Department of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Lehmann served as curator and collections manager at Mitchell Museum of the American Indian in Evanston, Illinois (2006–2008), and editor-atlarge for CNAM Magazine (2013–2014). Beginning in 2009, Lehmann has traveled the world as a Lean Six Sigma Consultant of the Global Marketing Team for the Women’s Health and Cancer Division of Becton Dickinson.
HEIDI McKINNON is the executive director of Curators Without Borders, a nonprofit that designs exhibitions and educational programming for international development projects and underserved communities in conjunction with museum partners, government agencies, and NGO partners. She concurrently serves as director of exhibitions and community programs at the Sandy Spring Museum in Maryland. McKinnon’s career focuses on historical memory, human rights, and Indigenous communities in the Americas, to which she brings over a decade of experience in developing collaborative museum exhibitions, at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian, at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, and independently.
MELISSA MELERO (NOrthern Paiute-Modoc) is a mixed media artist living in Hungro Valley, Nevada. She is currently a full-time artist and co-founder of the art group Great Basin Native Artists in Reno, Nevada. Melero has a bachelor of fine arts degree from the Institute of American Indian Arts and a bachelor of science degree from Portland State University in Oregon. She exhibits her art throughout the United States.
MARY ELLEN MEREDITH (Cherokee Nation) owns
Meredith Interests and Noksi Press, a Cherokee-language publishing company based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She
is a board member and past president of the Cherokee National Historical Society and served as interim director of the Cherokee Heritage Center (1999–2004). She also serves on the boards of the Oklahoma Humanities Council and Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums (ATALM). She has curated art shows at the Center of the American Indian and is an avid collector of Native American art.
JEAN MERZ-EDWARDS has studied and taught art history since 2000, when she attended her first art history classes at Hunter College in New York. She recently earned her master’s degree in art history from the University of Oklahoma, where she was awarded a certificate in women’s and gender studies and received the Alice Mary Robertson Award for her scholarship on the life and art of Linda Lomahaftewa (Hopi-Choctaw). Merz-Edwards teaches art history and English at Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina, Kansas.
MASON RIDDLE is a critic based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, who writes about visual arts, architecture, and design. She was the director of the former Two Rivers Gallery at the Minneapolis American Indian Center, where she curated multiple exhibitions. Riddle has written about numerous Native artists. Previously, she was the director of the Goldstein Museum of Design and the Minnesota Percent for Art in Public Places program. Riddle holds a master’s degree in art history and museum practice from the University of Minnesota and has taught art history at the college level.
MICHAEL SHEYAHSHE (Caddo Nation of Oklahoma) is the author of Native Americans in Comic Books: A Critical Study (McFarland Publishing, 2008). He has also written for Illusions, Trauma Magazine, Native Peoples, and Games for Windows: The Official Magazine. Sheyahshe earned two bachelor of art degrees in Native American studies and film and video studies, both cum laude from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma. He earned his master of fine arts degree in 3D modeling from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.
CATHY SHORT (Citizen Potawatomi Nation) is a professional photographer and textile designer. With her husband Hank and son Christopher, she owns Lizard Light Productions, specializing in fine art photography, video production, laser art, and Native-designed clothing and accessories. Short serves on the board of Wings of America. She is based in Goodyear, Arizona, and exhibits throughout the Southwest United States.
Detail of the tonsured Maya maize god as patron of the scribes, Unknown Maya artist, codex-style ceramic jar, 550-850 CE. Image from Wikimedia Commons.
MATTHEW RYAN SMITH, PhD, is a freelance writer,
independent curator, and sessional professor based in London, Ontario. His current research addresses contemporary Indigenous art, cultural loss, and strategies of survivance. Smith has written extensively on art and visual culture in publications including Canadian Art, Prefix Photo, ESSE, Briarpatch, Blackflash, C Magazine, Alternatives Journal, Magenta, artUS, Visual Arts News, FUSE, and Afterimage: The Journal of Media Arts and Criticism. He has also been published in several academic journals academic journals including Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, The Senses and Society, TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies, and the Canadian Journal of Native Studies. He has forthcoming writing to be published in Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, Journal of Curatorial Studies, Photography and Culture, Intersections: Canadian Journal of Music, and Canadian Journal of Film Studies.
EDWARD WAPP JR. (Comanche-Sac and Fox) taught
music and Indigenous studies courses at the Institute of American Indian Arts (1970–1973, 1990–2009), until he retired emeritus. He served as the chairman of the Indigenous studies department. Wapp is an ethnomusicologist, pianist, harpsichordist, and Native American flute player. Presently, he is writing a book, The History of the “49”: A Native American Social Event. He currently resides in Lawton, Oklahoma.
TANIA WILLARD (Secwepemc Nation), artist and curator, is currently Aboriginal curator-in-residence at Kamloops Art Gallery. Previously, as curator-in-residence with grunt gallery, she co-curated Beat Nation, which later showed at the Vancouver Art Gallery and toured to other major cities in Canada. Willard is based in Secwpemculecw, on reserve in her home territory. Her recent work includes the land-based, Indigenous-knowledge-led conceptual space of BUSH gallery and the public art project, Rule of the Trees. SPR I NG 2 0 1 5
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Recent Developments MUSEUMS The Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa appointed Jim Pepper Henry (Kaw/Muscogee) as its new executive director. Henry was the founding director of the Kanza Museum, a tribal museum in Kaw City, Oklahoma; associate director of the National Museum of the American Indian; director and CEO of the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center; and most recently, the executive director and CEO of the Heard Museum.
GALLERIES Vancouver’s Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art appointed Alexandra Montgomery as its new CEO. Previously Montgomery served as executive director of the Gardiner Museum in Toronto. Michael Robinson, who served as CEO of the Bill Reid Gallery since 2009, will serve as the president of the nonprofit Bill Reid Foundation. Judy Kardosh, director of Marion Scott Gallery in Vancouver, passed away on November 30, 2014. In 1975 Kardosh’s mother, Marion Scott, founded the gallery, the first to feature Inuit art on the West Coast. Judy Kardosh fought for recognition of Inuit artists, particularly women artists.
ART FAIRS The Autry National Center held its 24th annual American Indian Arts Marketplace in Los Angeles. Best of Show winner was Melissa Cody (Navajo). Dyanni Hamilton-Youngbird (Navajo) won the Jackie Autry Purchase Award. The category winners were John Spotted Eagle Bradley (Cherokee-Comanche), basketry; Glenda McKay (Ingalik Athabascan), beadwork and quillwork; Sho Sho Esquiro (Kaska Dene), clothing and personal attire; Glenda McKay, diverse arts; Victoria Adams (Southern Cheyenne), jewelry; Ryan Lee Smith (Cherokee Nation-Choctaw), painting and mixed media; Tedra Begay (Navajo), photography; Wallace Nez (Navajo), pottery; Raymond M. Chee Sr. (Navajo), sculpture; Etta C. Peacock (Navajo), textiles; and Eric Kayquaptewa (Hopi), woodcarving.
The chief financial officer of the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA) Charlene Porsild resigned and will move to Montana. SWAIA organizes the annual Santa Fe Indian Market.
PROJECTS Eighty Quechua youth, aged 15 to 25, in Pilahuín, Tungurahua, Ecuador, produced short films in a project funded by the Ecuadorian Culture Center of Tungurahua and the Savings and Credit Cooperative Chibuleo. Wayra Films of Peru provided technical assistance. Participating director Curicama Llanganate (Quechua), directed Yawar’ (“Blood”) and was named a cultural ambassador by Mushuk Nina, a nonprofit. Light in the Attic Records, based in Seattle, released Native North America (Vol. 1): Aboriginal Folk, Rock, and Country 1966–1985. This 34-song anthology features rare tracks by Indigenous musicians from Canada, the United States, and Mexico. The City of Kamloops, British Columbia, commissioned Haida artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas to create a monumental public sculpture at Riverside Park, near the confluence of the North and South Thompson Rivers. His aluminum and steel sculpture Rivers stands over ten meters tall.
AWARDS AND HONORS The 2014 Sobey Art Award, one of Canada’s most prestigious art awards, went to Nadia Myre (Kitigan Zibi Algonquin) of Montreal. The Sobey Art Foundation and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia administer the annual award, which celebrates emerging Canadian contemporary artists under 40 years old with a $50,000 honorarium. Myre is interviewed in this issue; see page 54. The National Endowment for the Arts provided Shan Goshorn (Eastern Band Cherokee), Sarah Sense (ChitimachaChoctaw), and the Arts and Humanities Council of Tulsa a $40,000 grant to curate the show Intertwined: Stories of a Splintered Past and residency for the two artists at the Hardesty Arts Center (AHHA) in Tulsa.
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Dyani White Hawk (Sicangu Lakota) and Donald M. Varnell (Haida) were awarded Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grants. The foundation gave unrestricted grants of $25,000 to 25 American artists for career support. White Hawk is a painter from St. Paul, Minnesota, and Varnell is woodcarver and cedar-bark weaver from Ketchikan, Alaska. The 2015 Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellows are Luzene Hill (Eastern Band Cherokee), Brenda Mallory (Cherokee Nation), Mario Martinez (Pascua Yaqui), Da-ka-xeen Mehner (Tlingit-Nisga’a), and Holly Wilson (Delaware Nation-Cherokee). Since 1999 the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, located in Indianapolis, awards the fellowships on alternating years. These include a $25,000 grant, an exhibition, and catalogue. This year’s winners of the Master Artist Initiative grant programs, administered by the Longhouse Education and Cultural Center at Evergreen State College, were David Boxley (Tsimshian), Marvin Oliver (Quinault), Paul Rowley (Tlingit-Haida), Sara Siestreem (Hanis Coos), and Dawn Walden (Ojibwe). The Native Creative Development winners were Gary Bigbear (Ho-Chunk), Shawn Brigman (Spokane), Neeka Cook (Tlingit-Haida), Kunu Dittmer-Bearchum (Northern Cheyenne), Nahaan Eide (Tlingit), Denise Emerson (Skokomish), Vicky Engel (Squaxin Island Tribe), Kaila Farrell-Smith (Klamath), Roger Fernandes (Lower Elwha Klallam), Spayne Martinez (Warm Springs), Emma Noyes (Colville), Paul Rowley (TlingitHaida), and Demian DinéYazhi’ (Diné). On the 102nd anniversary of its founding, Quitilipi, Argentina, was named the provincial capital of Indigenous art by Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies. The first Sunday of December will now mark celebrations of Quitilipi’s role in promoting Indigenous arts. Quitilipi is in the Chaco Province, home to Chorote, Mocoví, Pilagá, Qom, Vilela, and Wichí peoples. Haida Raid, a video by brothers Jaalen and Gwaai Edenshaw (both Haida) and Ken Raj Leslie, won the grand prize of the People on the Pipeline Video Contest, sponsored by the University of British Columbia’s Eco Art Incubator. Director Helen Haig-Brown (Tsilhqot’in) judged the contest. Haida Raid is a series of three stop-motion videos
PREHISTORIC ARTIFACTS AND SITES The Quileute Tribe moved a boulder covered with petroglyphs from the Calawah River, near Forks, Washington, to the A-Ka-Lat Center in La Push for safekeeping. Centuries-old carvings on the half-ton, metamorphic rock describe a primeval battle between K’wati, a Quileute hero, and the monstrous Red Lizard. In December 2013, Erik Wasankari and his son Reid, from Gig Harbor, discovered the boulder. The tribe performed a ceremony at the riverbank and another at the cultural center, the boulder’s new home.
Brent Greenwood (Chickasaw-Ponca), Native Sisters, 2014, acrylic, elks’ teeth, and artificial sinew on canvas, 24 × 30 in. Image courtesy of the artist.
incorporating woodcarvings, music, and Haida language. The Junta Abya Yala por los Pueblos Libres ( JAPL) presented Felix Diaz (Qom) and his community of Potae Napocna Navogoh with the 2014 Abya Yala Awareness Award. JAPL is an organization of artists, educators, activists, and scholars, based in Paraná, Entre Ríos, Argentina. Christopher Short (Citizen Potawatomi) won first, second, and third places in the abstract category of 2014 International Laser Display Association (ILDA) Laser and Multimedia Show. Trophies were presented at the 2014 ILDA Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. ILDA Executive Director Patrick Murphy said an individual member has never previously won an entire awards category. Washington State Governor Jay Inslee presented the 2014 Governor’s Arts and Heritage Award to the Longhouse Education and Cultural Center at Evergreen College in Olympia. The governor presented Johnpaul Jones (Cherokee-Choctaw), an architect, with the Heritage Individual Award. The Young Arts Leadership Award was presented to Earl Davis (Shoalwater Bay Tribe) for his work in reviving southwest coastal arts.
Sisters Keri Ataumbi and Teri Greeves (both Kiowa-Comanche-Italian) were named Living Treasures of the 2015 Native Treasures Indian Arts Festival, held annually over Memorial Day weekend to benefit the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (MIAC) in Santa Fe. The Best of Show winner of the Coors Western Art Exhibit in Denver was Brent Greenwood (Chickasaw-Ponca) of Edmond, Oklahoma. The Coors Western Art Exhibit features contemporary realist work of the Western United States by Canadian, American, and European artists.
REPATRIATION The Navajo Nation purchased seven Navajo ceremonial masks back from Drouot, a French auction house. Navajo Nation vice president and medicine man Rex Lee Jim traveled to Paris, where he outbid a private French collector to bring the Nightway Chant masks home. The US Embassy to France had asked the auction house to halt the auction so the provenance of the masks and other Native cultural items could be determined, but Alain Leroy, owner of Drouot, refused.
New studies using analytical scanning electron microscopes reveal that stone mask effigies from Teotihuacan (ca. 200– 600 CE) were carved in remote workshops, possibly located in Pueblo, Mexico. A Smithsonian research team, including geologist Timothy Rose and anthropologist Jane Walsh, used low-vacuum microscopes to examine silicone molds of approximately 150 Teotihuacan masks, discovering only three to be fakes. High winds revealed new geoglyphs near the Nazca Lines in the Ica Region of Peru. Eduardo Herrán Gómez de la Torre noticed the newly visible formations while flying over El Ingenio Valley. These geoglyphs include bird and camelid shapes, a zigzag, and a 60-meter long snake. The Nazca Lines date from 200 BCE to 500 CE. These newly rediscovered lines are thought to date back 2,000 years, when Paracas culture was transitioning to Nazca culture.
LEGAL ISSUES The Nazca Lines were irreparably damaged by Greenpeace activists performing a publicity stunt. During the United Nations climate summit in Peru, the activists spread out a giant cloth banner next to the hummingbird glyph, leaving permanent tracks to and from the glyph. Peru is seeking criminal changes against the activists. Due to the fragile nature of the Nazca Lines, the public is not allowed to walk near them. Individuals authorized to be in the area must wear special footwear. In Peru, vandalizing archaeological monuments is punishable by up to six years in prison. SPRI NG 2 0 1 5
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