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ANCESTRAL, HISTORICAL & LIVING ART by INDIGENOUS PEOPLES of the AMERICAS

FırstAmericanArt MAGAZINE

NO. 42, SPRING 2024 Life, the Universe & Everything

DISPLAY UNTIL JUNE 30, 2024

NATURAL DYES | NAGPRA

DENILSON BANIWA

PETER J. CLAIR’S SCULPTURES

ROBERT DAVIDSON

CELEBRATING SEAL IN ART

RUTHE BLALOCK JONES

ALABAMA-COUSHATTA BASKETS

ROXANNE SWENTZELL

Enjoy an enriching, shared experience exploring centuries of Chickasaw history and traditions. The vibrant, vivid, living expression of Chickasaw culture unfolds through a 1700s tribal village, dance demonstrations, traditional gardens and engaging exhibits.

OPEN TUE–SAT 10 AM to 5 P M

L IVE STOM P DANCE DEMONSTRATIONS 11 AM and 2 P M

S u l p h u r, O k l a h o m a | 5 8 0 - 6 2 2-7 1 3 0 | C h i c k a s a w C u l t u r a l C e n t e r. c o m

Inaugural

Ohi:yo’ Art Market May 11, 2024 $7,000 Best of Show

Seneca Allegany Resort & Casino 777 Seneca Allegany Blvd. Salamanca, NY 14779 info@senecamuseum.org senecamuseum.org

“New Beginnings” by Kiera Pyke (Saint Regis Mohawk), quillwork, Miyuki beads, Swarovski crystals, Hudson Bay trade beads, trade cloth, brass sequins, brain-tanned hide, 12 × 5 in.

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AP R 6 – M AY 11 THE GALLERY AT CHEROKEE SPRINGS PLAZA | TAHLEQUAH Experience one of the country’s most prestigious Native art shows, and support Native artists in the heart of Cherokee Nation. Best of Show, 52nd Annual Trail of Tears Art Show “ᏚᏙᎠ ᏥᏍᏚ ᎤᏂᎩᏍᏗ (Her Name is Wild Rose)” Roy Boney Jr., Cherokee Nation

Visit our exhibits of historic and contemporary Native art. View 700 works of Navajo and Pueblo jewelry in our permanent gallery.

PATHFINDER

40 Years of Marcus Amerman Through January 11, 2025

Shop at the Case Trading Post.

MASTERGLASS

The Collaborative Spirit of Tony Jojola Through June 9, 2024

Marcus Amerman, b. 1959 (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) Iron Horse Jacket (with Brooke Shields), 1982 Collection of James Fendenheim, (Mestiza/Tohono O’odham descent) Photography by Addison Doty

WHEELWRIGHT MUSEUM

Tony Jojola, 1958 – 2022 (Isleta Pueblo) Blown glass vessel and bears Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian Photography by Addison

Museum Hill 704 Camino Lejo, Santa Fe, NM 87505 Tue−Sat, 10 am − 5 pm 505-982-4636 • wheelwright.org

issue no. 42, spring 2024

DEPARTMENTS

FEATURES

Recent Developments By Staci Golar and America Meredith (Cherokee Nation)

Nature Provides: Subtle Palettes from the Earth By Ruthanne Johnson

Seven Directions By Pablo Barrera (Wixárika)

Celebrating Seal in Alaska Native Art By Nadia Jackinsky-Sethi, PhD (Alutiiq)

Messages in Baskets: Peter J. Clair By Lucy R. Lippard

NAGPRA Updates: Closing Loopholes Exploited by Institutions By Staci Golar

From River Cane to Pine Needles: The Journey and Adaptation of Alabama and Koasati Baskets By Lisa LaRue-Baker (Cherokee Nation)

Art+Lit 98 Brian Thomas Isaac: Syilx Novelist By Matthew Ryan Smith, PhD Opinion Colorizing Historical Photographs: Ethical Dilemmas of a New Digital Technique By Alicia J.M. Colson, PhD, and George “Choch” Kenny (Lac Seul Ojibwe)

102

Calendar

110

REVIEWS Exhibition Reviews

Report

Book Reviews

Television Review

ARTIST PROFILES

Denilson Baniwa: Baniwa Interdisciplinary Artist By Mariana Brazão

Robert Davidson: Haida/Tlingit Sculptor, Printmaker, Painter, and Jeweler By Paul Niemi

Ruthe Blalock Jones: 70 Shawnee/Delaware/Peoria Painter, Educator, and Printmaker By Stacy Pratt, PhD (Mvskoke) Roxanne Swentzell: Santa Clara Pueblo Ceramic and Bronze Sculptor By RoseMary Diaz (Santa Clara Pueblo) cover Denilson Baniwa (Baniwa), Love, 2023, arumã basket, natural dye. Photo: Filipe Berndt. Image courtesy of the artist.

FIRST AMERICAN ART MAGAZINE NO. 42, SPRING 2024 | 5

issue no. 42, spring 2024 ISSN 2333-5548 (Print) • ISSN 2333-5556 (Digital) Publishing Editor: America Meredith (Cherokee Nation) Literary Editor: Matthew Ryan Smith, PhD (Euro-Canadian) Contributing Editor: Stacy Pratt, PhD (Mvskoke) Advertising Representatives: Barbara Harjo and Deborah Fritts (Cherokee Nation) Copy Editors: Rosa Cays (Chicana) and Peter Letzelter-Smith Proofreaders: Staci Golar, Heather Gross, and Angela C. Villa (Chicana) Layout and Design: America Meredith (Cherokee Nation) and Corey Yazzie (Navajo) Social Media: Staci Golar, America Meredith (Cherokee Nation), and Jackie Sevier (Northern Arapaho) Intern: Abby Mikalauskas

Regional Representatives

EXPERIENCE the

Great Basin: Melissa Melero-Moose (Northern Paiute/Modoc) Great Plains: Jackie Sevier (Northern Arapaho) Northeast: Kelly Church (Gun Lake Pottawatomi/Ottawa/Ojibwe) Northwest: Nadia Jackinsky-Sethi, PhD (Alutiiq) Southeast: Michole Eldred (Catawba/Eastern Cherokee descent) Southwest: Holly Coonsis (Zuni) and RoseMary Diaz (Santa Clara Pueblo)

Advisory Council

Miranda Belarde-Lewis, PhD (Zuni/Tlingit) Roy Boney Jr. (Cherokee Nation) Emily Haozous, PhD, RN (Chiricahua Fort Sill Apache) Linda Lomahaftewa, Hon. DHum (Hopi/Choctaw) Leah Mata Fragua (Coastal Chumash) Anya Montiel, PhD (Mestiza/Tohono O'odham descent) Denise Neil, PhD (Delaware Tribe/Cherokee Nation) Neebinnaukzhik Southall (Rama Chippewa) Mary Jo Watson, PhD (Seminole Nation) India Rael Young, PhD

DISCOVER ENGAGE CONNECT

Advertising Representatives

West: Barbara Harjo, barbara@firstamericanartmagazine.com East: Deborah Fritts (Cherokee Nation)

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EDITOR’S GREETING

N THIS SPRING ISSUE, Ruthanne Johnson takes a deep dive into natural dyes. Intimate scientific knowledge, developed over countless generations of close observation, unlocks colors and medicines from the flora, fauna, and fungi surrounding us. We have such much to learn from the living beings who surround us. Ruthanne conducted 20 interviews to complete her feature, which feels like a lively visit with some of the master artists active today. Nadia Jackinsky (Alutiiq) takes us to Alaska to better appreciate seals and the artwork they make possible. After seals, whales, walruses, and other mammals were threatened by commercial hunters, the U.S. passed the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act. Understanding that Indigenous peoples have lived with and sustainably hunted these beings for millennia, the law provides exemptions for Indigenous peoples to harvest seals and other animals for subsistence purposes and for making artwork. In either case, the edible portions must be made available to Native communities to eat. It’s a cliché that Native peoples use every part of the animals they hunt; however, this cliché is based on truth. As Nadia wrote about in FAAM No. 39, Summer 2023, even seal intestines are highly regarded as water-resistant material for parkas. Alaska Native organizations partner with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to conserve marine mammal populations. The heating of the Arctic and melting of sea ice is a threat to ice seals, so representatives from five Alaska Native regional corporations founded the Ice Seal Committee in 2004 to study, protect, and educate the public about bearded, ribbon, ringed, and spotted seals in partnership with the NOAA. One of my personal heroes, internationally renowned art writer Lucy R. Lippard explores black ash (Fraxinus nigra) in this issue. This tree species is uniquely suited for basketmaking since its porous growth rings readily split apart into workable splints. We’ve covered this tree from Michigan to Maine, and now Lucy takes us to Nova Scotia to study the experimental sculpture of Peter J. Clair (Mi'kmaq). She reflects back on how the artist and novelist has addressed salient, sociopolitical issues of the day through the medium of black ash. That tree is under threat of the emerald ash borer, an invasive wood-boring pest, and FAAM’s own Kelly Church (Gun Lake Pottawatomi/Ottawa/Ojibwe) has been sounding the alarm for years. She’s also been teaching the public, including children, how to collect and save seeds, and she’s documented the entire process of harvesting, processing, and weaving black ash. The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada listed Fraxinus nigra as threatened in 2018, and biocontrols have been released in Ontario and Quebec to stem the spread of the Emerald Ash Borer. Another kind of safeguarding comes from the December 2023 final rule of the 1990 Native American Graves and Protection Act (NAGPRA). Staci Golar deftly breaks down key points of this complex legal situation so those of us lacking a legal background can understand why major museums in the United States are covering their Native exhibitions or

above America Meredith (Cherokee Nation), Pollinate!, 2007, gouache on paper, 14 × 11 in., private collection. Image courtesy of the artist.

closing them to the public entirely. Those institutions are the ones that haven’t been properly consulting with the tribes. This new rule will hopefully convince museums to finally comply with the spirit and the letter of the 34-year-old law and work with tribes to determine what the tribes want to see happen to Native human remains and cultural patrimony housed in museum collections. Some antiquities dealers have tried to scare the public by saying the new NAGPRA law will quell collecting and exhibiting Native art, but what is completely safe to collect and exhibit are all the works made as art. There’s no shortage of works made for viewing by the general public. Creating artwork for outside audiences has long provided economic survival for many rural Native communities. One such example is the pine needle baskets from Texas and Louisiana. Lisa LaRue-Baker (Cherokee Nation), a basket maker herself, explores the history of the Alabama and Coushatta peoples and their relations to their homelands and to the longleaf pine (Pinus palustris). The Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas partnered with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Texas Forest Service to address pine reforestation, which helps all the native species in the ecosystem. So much Native art depends upon plants and animals for its creation. Respect and reciprocity require us to work to replenish and safeguard their habitats through whatever means we can. To appreciate the artwork is one step in the long journey toward honoring and conserving the lands that nourish and give us life. —America Meredith (Cherokee Nation) FIRST AMERICAN ART MAGAZINE NO. 42, SPRING 2024 | 7

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AUGUST 16, 17 & 18, 2024 ARTS MARKET • CREATIVE ENTREPRENUERS FILM FEST • PUEBLO FASHION • FOOD TRUCKS

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RECENT DEVELOPMENTS MUSEUMS FIRST AMERICANS MUSEUM (FAM) in Oklahoma City hired J. Blake Wade as its interim executive director and CEO after James Pepper Henry (Kaw/Muscogee) stepped down from his position as executive director. Henry has served since 2017, oversaw the opening of the museum in 2021, and will serve as its director emeritus. Wade, a former executive director of the Oklahoma Historical Society, served as chief executive officer of the Native American Cultural and Educational Authority that developed First Americans Museum. FAM also hired Michelle Chouteau Merriman (Southern Cheyenne/Kaw) as its collections manager/registrar and Anna Smist (Sac & Fox/Seminole) as its curatorial assistant. Merriman directed the Watonga Public Library. Smist previously worked as an admissions officer and Native recruitment coordinator at Yale University.

The NELSON-ATKINS MUSEUM OF ART in Kansas City, Missouri, hired Tahnee Ahtone (Kiowa/Seminole/ Mvskoki) as its curator of Native American art. Previously Ahtone served as director and curator of the Kiowa Tribal Museum; tribal liaison and curator of

above Tahnee Ahtone (Kiowa/Seminole/ Mvskoki). Photo: Jason S. Ordaz.

textiles and American Indian collections for the Oklahoma Historical Society; and curator at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center. She is a doctoral candidate at Swansea University. The GORMAN MUSEUM OF NATIVE AMERICAN ART at the University of California–Davis hired Polly Nordstrand (Hopi) as its new curator. She previously served as the director at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe and the first curator of Native American art at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Nordstrand earned her master’s degree in museum studies at California State University–Fullerton and studied art history at Cornell University. The MICHAEL C. CARLOS MUSEUM at Emory University in Atlanta hired Miranda Kyle as its curator of Indigenous art of the Americas. Previously, she served as the culture program manager and chief curator at the Atlanta BeltLine. Kyle earned her MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design and an MA from the Edinburgh College of Arts.

Specializing in Hopi Silver Jewelry

The very best Hopi Silver jewelry purchased directly from the Hopi silversmiths FIRST AMERICAN ART MAGAZINE NO. 42, SPRING 2024 | 9

ART FAIRS Arissana Pataxó (Pataxó), Denilson Baniwa (Baniwa), and Gustavo Caboco (Wapichana) will co-curate the Brazilian pavilion in the 60th edition of the VENICE BIENNALE. In a joint statement, the curators said, “The show brings together the Tupinambá Community and artists coming from the coastal peoples—the first to be transformed into foreigners in their own Hãhãw (ancestral territory)—in order to express a different perspective on the vast territory where more than 300 Indigenous peoples live (Hãhãwpuá).” The Venice Biennale also released its list of the 332 artists participating in this year’s main exhibition, Foreigners Everywhere, curated by Adriano Pedrosa. Pedrosa is purposefully including Indigenous, queer, and from the Global South, noting that “Indigenous artists are often treated like foreigners in their own countries.” The list includes Emmi Whitehorse (Navajo), Kay WalkingStick (Cherokee Nation), and others.

ART SHOWS The 81st edition of the Whitney Museum of Art announced the artists participating in the 2024 WHITNEY BIENNIAL: EVEN BETTER THAN THE REAL THING. Indigenous artists Siku Allooloo (Inuk), Seba Calfuqueo (Mapuche), Demian DinéYazhi' (Zuni/Navajo), Kite (Oglala Lakota), Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan/Hidatsa/Arikara/Lakota), Sydney Frances Pascal (Lil'wat St'at'imc), and Rose Simpson (Santa Clara Pueblo) are among the selected artists.

ART MARKETS Hollis Chitto (Mississippi Choctaw/Laguna/Isleta Pueblos) won Best of Show at the 66th Annual HEARD MUSEUM GUILD INDIAN FAIR AND MARKET. Classification winners were Maria Samora (Taos), jewelry and lapidary; Russell Sanchez (San Ildefonso Pueblo), pottery; Cara Romero (Chemehuevi), two-dimensional; Mark Taho (Hopi/Navajo), Pueblo carvings; Cliff Fragua (Jemez), sculpture; Tyrrell Tapaha (Navajo), weavings and textiles; Hollis Chitto, diverse art forms; and Carol Emarthle Douglas (Northern Arapaho/ Seminole), baskets. Tyrrell Tapaha (Navajo) won the Conrad House Innovation Award, Leon Misak Kinneeveauk (Inupiaq) won the Indian Arts and Crafts Association Commemorative Award, and Patricia Belgarde-Cornelius (Turtle Mountain Chippewa) won the Idyllwild Arts Imagination Award. Darius Charley (Navajo) won the Grand Award at the 38th Annual RED EARTH FESTIVAL in Oklahoma City. Candace Shanholtzer (Choctaw Nation) won the President’s Award, Adrian Redbird (Kiowa/Cheyenne/Muscogee) won the Kathleen Everett Upshaw Award, and Debra S. Keazer (Cherokee Nation) won the Emerging Artist Award. Brent Greenwood (Chickasaw/Ponca) was the Honored One. Classification winners were Alberta Henderson (Navajo), clothing, textiles, and weaving; Debra Keazer (Cherokee Nation), cultural items, utilitarian; Dan Worcester (Chickasaw), diversified art 10 | FIRST AMERICAN ART MAGAZINE NO. 42, SPRING 2024

above Darius Charley (Navajo) with his Grand Award–winning cradleboard at the 38th Annual Red Earth Festival in Oklahoma City. right Hollis Chitto (Mississippi Choctaw/Laguna/Isleta Pueblos) with his Best of Show–winning bandolier bag at the 66th Annual Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair and Market in Phoenix.

forms; Dylan Cavin (Choctaw Nation), drawings, graphics, and photography; Nelson Garcia (Santo Domingo Pueblo), jewelry, traditional; Abraham Begay (Navajo), jewelry, contemporary; Peterson Yazzie (Navajo), painting, oils/acrylic; Jane Semple Umsted (Choctaw Nation), painting, water-based; Jennifer Benally (Oneida Nation), pottery; and Grant Morris (Cherokee Nation), sculpture.

SCHOOLS The UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA Department of American Indian Studies and the Department of Art created the George Morrison Center for Indigenous Arts to honor the late Grand Portage Ojibwe artist’s legacy and to serve as an interdisciplinary study center with art studio and exhibition space.

ORGANIZATIONS The NATIVE ARTS AND CULTURES FOUNDATION (NACF) based in Portland, Oregon, hired Shyla M. Spicer, PMP (Yakama/Wanapum), as its new president and CEO. Previously she was the director of the Indigenous Collective and executive director of the Suquamish Tribe. NACF also hired Andrea R. Hanley (Navajo) as its vice president of programs. She previously served as chief curator at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian. FIRST PEOPLES FUND in Rapid City, South Dakota, hired Justin Kii Huenemann (Navajo) as its new president and CEO. Huenemann was executive vice president and acting then

interim president and CEO of the philanthropic nonprofit. Lori Pourier (Oglala Lakota), who served as president and CEO of First Peoples Fund for 25 years, stepped down to become the founder and fellow, a newly defined position to guide the organization.

AWARDS & HONORS NDN COLLECTIVE named its ten 2023–25 RADICAL IMAGINATION ARTIST AND STORYTELLER grantees. They are Dana Warrington (Menominee/Prairie Band Potawatomi), Jeneda Benally (Navajo), Ursula Hudson, Kadusné (Tlingit), April Stone (Bad River Ojibwe), Tiara Ribeaux (Native Hawaiian), Anahí Haizel de la Cruz Martín (Yucatec Maya), Samantha Harrison Ataataruaq (Kotzebue Inupiaq), Darrah Blackwater (Navajo), RYAN! Feddersen (Colville Okanogan/ Arrow Lakes), and Emilio Wawatie (Barrière Lake/Kitigan Zibi Algonquin). Each receives a grant of $100,000 over two years. The AMERICAN CRAFT COUNCIL named ceramic artist Diego Romero (Cochiti) to their 2024 COLLEGE OF FELLOWS. Since 1975, the American Craft Council has recognized people who have “made an outstanding contribution to the crafts in America by awarding the distinction of Fellow of the Council” since 1975. The ANDY WARHOL FOUNDATION FOR THE VISUAL ARTS announced its Fall 2023 grant recipients for program support spanning two years. These include Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts in Pendleton, Oregon, and the Native American Community Development Institute (All My Relations Arts) in FIRST AMERICAN ART MAGAZINE NO. 42, SPRING 2024 | 11