ANCESTRAL, HISTORICAL & LIVING ARTS by INDIGENOUS PEOPLES of the AMERICAS
FırstAmericanArt MAGAZINE
NO. 47, SUMMER 2025
NATIVE CYANOTYPES
DISPLAY UNTIL OCT. 6, 2025
DENNIS ESQUIVEL
REVIVAL OF FEATHER CAPES
ROY KADY
NEW VOICES, BOLD VISIONS
TRACI RABBIT
THE CHITTO FAMILY
CHRISTAL RATT
Join Us This Summer! MARKET ARTISTS FOR AUGUST 2025 Janice Black Elk Jim (Rosebud Lakota)
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13
10 am–2 pm
Museum open
3 pm–6 pm
Benefit Sale: Early Bird
Dylan Coriz
Advance tickets: wheelwright.org
(Santo Domingo)
Cippy Crazyhorse (Cochiti)
THURSDAY, AUGUST 14
Waddie Crazyhorse (Cochiti)
8 am–4 pm
Shop to support the museum
Felicia Fragua (Jemez)
Jonah Hill
(Hopi/Quechan)
Kevin Honyouti
FRIDAY, AUGUST 15 8 am–4 pm
(Hopi)
Ronald Honyouti (Hopi)
Daniel Jim (Navajo)
Yazzie Johnson (Navajo)
& Gail Bird
(Santo Domingo/Laguna)
Benefit Sale
Benefit Sale & Artists’ Market
SATURDAY, AUGUST 16 10 am–2 pm
Artists’ Market
10 am–4 pm
Museum open
Admission to the museum and Artists’ Market is free Aug. 13–16. Benefit Sale admission is free Aug. 14 & 15.
Raynard Lalo (Hopi)
Shanna Lalo Patterson (Hopi)
Harold Littlebird
(Laguna/Santo Domingo) PHOTOS: Top Left: Neebinnaukzhik Southall (Anishinaabe); Bottom Left, Bottom Right: Razelle Benally (Oglala Lakota/Diné).
Jackie Sevier
(Northern Arapaho)
Deanna Tenorio
(Santo Domingo/Pomo)
Robert Tenorio (Santo Domingo)
505.982.4636 wheelwright.org
PO Box 5153, Santa Fe, NM 87502 702 Camino Lejo, Santa Fe, NM 87505
First Americans Museum (FAM) is one of 52 projects represented at the U.S. Pavilion of the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale. This year's showcase, PORCH: An Architecture of Generosity, highlights the Indigenous intentionality behind the construction of FAM, where form follows function. The iconic Hall of The People glass structure takes its inspiration from the Wichita grass lodge. The FAM Mound is a 21st century continuation of mound-building cultures and serves as a cosmological clock. First Americans Museum is a unique blend of ancestral architecture and modern design brought to life by Johnson Fain and ADG/Blatt (formerly Hornbeek/Blatt).
WWW.FAMOK.ORG
405.594.2100
Kathleen Wall (Jemez) Evening Star, 2009. MIAC 60693/12. Photo by Addison Doty.
Look up. What do you see? From radio astronomy to solstice calendars, Indigenous peoples look to the sky for timing, meaning, and beauty. Makowa: The Worlds Above Us tells the stories of an ever-changing world through connecting science, stories, art, and observations.
Opening June 1, 2025
On Museum Hill in Santa Fe, New Mexico IndianArtsandCulture.org · 505 476-1269
Partially funded by the Santa Fe County Lodgers’ Tax.
AUG 9 – SEPT 6 Experience our show’s 30th anniversary, as we celebrate Cherokee Nation’s artistry, culture and heritage in our capital, Tahlequah. Purchase art in person or through our online gallery. 2024 Cherokee Homecoming Art Show BEST OF SHOW
The Gallery at Cherokee Springs Plaza 3377 Cherokee Springs Road | Tahlequah, OK 74464 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Tuesday Through Saturday
“Cherokee Rose 3, Continuance” by Troy Jackson
issue no. 47, summer 2025
DEPARTMENTS
FEATURES
Recent Developments By Staci Golar and America Meredith (Cherokee Nation)
13
Seven Directions By Sháńdíín Brown (Diné)
22
Spotlight | Newspaper Rock By Florence Wanjiru
94
Art+Lit | Jamesie Fournier: Inuk Poet and Author By Matthew Ryan Smith, PhD
114
Art+Lit | Erica Jacque (Inuk) By America Meredith (Cherokee Nation)
119
Four Indigenous artists bring exuberance and vitality to their diverse art practices
Calendar By Abby Mikalauskas, Staci Golar, and America Meredith (Cherokee Nation)
123
By Mandy Yeahpau (Comanche/ Cherokee/Tarahumara descent)
To Carry the Wind: The Revitalization of Feather Mantles, Capes, and Cultural Memory
30
Tribes coast to coast are reclaiming the intricate art of featherwork clothing By Matthew Ryan Smith, PhD 30
New Voices, Bold Visions: Native Artists Redefine Santa Fe’s Summer Scene
42
Photo Genesis: Native Cyanotypes in Five Parts
42
52
An early photographic technique yields delicate, haunting artworks in the hands of these artists By Stacy Pratt, PhD (Mvskoke) The Chitto Family: Generating a Large Artistic Legacy 52
60
A family encourages and inspires each other’s creative pursuits By Dan Ninham, PhD (Oneida Nation)
cover Michelle Sound (Swan River Cree/Métis), Theresa Sound, Age 16, 2023, cyanotype on elk-hide drum: elk hide, wood, 10 × 10 in. Part of the series Every Photo I Have Of My Mother. Image courtesy of the artist.
60
FIRST AMERICAN ART MAGAZINE NO. 47, SUMMER 2025 | 5
THROUGH AUGUST 17, 2025
Kent Monkman (Fisher River Cree Nation), The Great Mystery (detail), 2022. Acrylic paint on canvas, 117½ × 91½ in. Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Miriam H. and S. Sidney Stoneman Acquisition Fund; 2023.18.1. © and image courtesy of Kent Monkman. Kent Monkman: History is Painted by the Victors is organized by the Denver Art Museum and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. It was developed with generous support from D.R. Sobey Foundation and Henry Luce Foundation, with additional support provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art, The Christensen Fund, the donors to the Annual Fund Leadership Campaign, the Walker Youngbird Foundation, and the residents who support the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). Promotional support is provided by 5280 Magazine and CBS Colorado.
6 | FIRST AMERICAN ART MAGAZINE NO. 47, SUMMER 2025
issue no. 47, summer 2025
REVIEWS
ARTIST PROFILES
Galisteo: Indigenization 96 By Kateri Smith (Blackfoot/Métis)
Dennis Esquivel: 68 Grand Traverse Ottawa-Chippewa Fine Woodworker and Painter By America Meredith (Cherokee Nation)
Juneau: Át Kawdiyaayi Yéil, Raven in Motion By Megan A. Smetzer, PhD
98
Reno: The Art of Judith Lowry By Chris Lanier
100
Santa Fe: Dakota Mace: 102 DAHODIYINII—SACRED PLACES By Michelle J. Lanteri, PhD Television | North of North By Angela Startz (Iñupiaq)
104
Music | acbo, Only a Dream By Thollem
106
Books From the Rez to the Runway: Forging My Path in Fashion By Isabella Fuller (Seminole Nation/Creek) Indigenous Tattoo Traditions: Humanity through Skin and Ink By James Bland, PhD
68
Roy Kady: Diné Textile Artist By Christy Hanson (Diné)
74
Traci Rabbit: Cherokee Nation Painter By Ruthanne Johnson
80
Christal Ratt: Mitchikanibikok Inik Algonquin Birchbark, Quillwork, and Beadwork Artist By Matthew Ryan Smith, PhD
86
108 74
109
Reenvisioning Histories of 111 American Art: Transforming Museum Practice By Lisa LaRue-Baker (Cherokee Nation) 80
MEMORIALS Jenny Irene (Inupiaq, 1988–2025) By Nadia Jackinsky-Sethi, PhD (Alutiiq)
120
Abel Rodríguez (Nonuya, 1941–2025) By Clara Jaeger
121
Mary E. Smith 122 (Muscogee, 1950–2025) By Lisa Rutherford (Cherokee Nation)
86
“It always makes me feel happy when I get to work on anything because my kokom [grandma] and tcom [grandpa] used to do this, and now I am. It’s like they’re with me. That’s what it feels like when I’m working on any project. I think of them like they’re there beside me.” —Christal Ratt (Mitchikanibikok Inik Algonquin) FIRST AMERICAN ART MAGAZINE NO. 47, SUMMER 2025 | 7
issue no. 47, summer 2025 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 Representative: Barbara Harjo Circulation Manager: Amy D. Bergseth, PhD Copy Editors: Rosa Cays (Chicana) and Angela C. Villa (Chicana) Proofreaders: Travis D. Day, Staci Golar, and Angela C. Villa (Chicana) Layout & Design: America Meredith (Cherokee Nation) Webmaster: John Paul Rangel, PhD (Mestizo/Apache descent) Social Media: Staci Golar, America Meredith (Cherokee Nation), and Jackie Sevier (Northern Arapaho) Interns: Liam Hart and Abby Mikalauskas
Regional Representatives
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) Tatiana Lomahaftewa-Singer (Hopi/Choctaw) Leah Mata Fragua (yak tityu tityu yak tiłhini 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
Advertising Representative
Barbara Harjo, barbara@firstamerican.art Internationally distributed by Disticor Magazine Distribution Services.
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First American Art Magazine, LLC, 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. Copyright © 2025 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 specific images listed with Creative Commons licenses. Any errors or omissions will be corrected in subsequent editions. First American Art Magazine® is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
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Contact You can reach us at info@firstamerican.art or FAAM, 3334 W. Main St. #442, Norman, OK 73072
firstamerican.art Little Big Plateau (a1), 2025, 16”x 16”, is part of a series of lithographs with hand-inked monoprint elements on Somerset Satin soft white. Collaborating master printer, Alyssa Ebinger, TMP
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EDITOR’S GREETING
I
N THIS ISSUE’S REVIEW of the acbo album, Only a Dream, Dylan Tenorio (Kewa/Diné) tells Thollem, the author, “We all need to wake up and realize that we can make this world a far better place than our current leaders are building for us right now.” Tenorio sees his music as “a gentle reminder that we are in this together, and that there is still good worth fighting for.” These are words we all need to hear right now. I know I do since I can’t stop doomscrolling news every day. A friend commented on the disconnect she felt making jewelry in our current political climate. But antipoverty activist Jacqueline Novogratz writes: “Life is hard—which may be why humans have insisted on creating beauty in even the darkest times and in the meanest places.”1 This is true for Indigenous peoples of the Americas, just as it’s been true for humans across the globe. Some of our most splendid, intricate artworks were created during times of warfare and imprisonment, such as pre-Removal bandolier bags or Reservation-era cradleboards. These artworks were embodied prayers for the protection of those who used them. Likewise, Matthew Ryan Smith shares in his feature article, “To Carry the Wind,” how Robert Perry (Chickasaw) believes that the featherwork cloaks serve as spiritual armor. Art isn’t escapism, but it can be medicine. In “Photo Genesis” by Stacy Pratt (Mvskoke), Jarica Walsh (Osage) explains The Hope Flags (2020), cyanotype prayer flags she created to connect to her community during the isolation of the early COVID-19 pandemic. In Dahodiyinii, a series that reflects on the Diné’s Long Walk, Dakota Mace (Diné) says, “The piece is not about turning away but about leaning into these very sacred and painful places, not seeing them as sites of defeat but as spaces of remembrance and healing.” Likewise, our cover features a work in the series by Michelle Good (Swan River Cree/Métis), Every Photo I Have of My Mother, which commemorates the specific humanity of the mother she lost at an early age.
above America Meredith (Cherokee Nation), Environmental Impact, 2007, acrylic, gel medium, stickers on panel, 10 × 8 in., private collection. Image courtesy of the artist.
Indian humor has been a survival skill through the centuries, and in our feature “The Chitto Family” by Dan Ninham (Oneida Nation), Dillon Chitto (Mississippi Choctaw/Isleta/Laguna Pueblo) is able to transform the Pueblo Revolt into a comedy. His brother Hollis Chitto (Mississippi Choctaw/Isleta/Laguna Pueblo) crafts exquisite beadwork but can also poke fun at our vanity with his self-admiring doll, Hmm… Pisa Saachukma Ka (Damn, I Look Good). Randy Chitto (Mississippi Choctaw) shares an unbound joy with his turtle and bear sculptures.
From an Indigenous perspective, our visual arts, writing, music, and performance are our universes in which we can embody what we value the most. We manifest what we cherish, as the next generation of artists does in “New Voices, Bold Visions” by Mandy Yeahpau (Comanche/Cherokee/Tarahumara descent). “It’s not just about making art,” Carmen Selam (Yakama/Comanche) says. “It’s about creating a world where we can see each other more clearly.” —America Meredith (Cherokee Nation)
1. Jacqueline Novogratz, Manifesto for a Moral Revolution: Practices to Build a Better World (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2020), n.p.
FIRST AMERICAN ART MAGAZINE NO. 47, SUMMER 2025 | 9
SPECIALIZING IN THE SALE OF ESTATE AND PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
Shaman Tranforming to Whale by Jerome Saclamana, Inupiaq
Contact director@quintanagalleries.com
Q UINTANA G ALLERIES
for consignment and purchase inquiries
quintanagalleries.com 503-810-7525
10 | FIRST AMERICAN ART MAGAZINE NO. 47, SUMMER 2025
CHEROKEE ART MARKET
Twenty Years of Native Artistry
Refined. Resilient. Revered.
O C TO BE R
1 1 – 12
Celebrate two decades of honoring and showcasing authentic Native American art and artists. Join us and find your connection to Native culture and expression — through art.
HARD ROCK HOTEL & CASINO TULSA
FIRST AMERICAN ART MAGAZINE NO. 47, SUMMER 2025 | 11
SAVE THE DATE
NATIVE AMERICAN ARTS WORKSHOPS & FESTIVAL WEEK JUNE 8 - 26, 2026 IDYLLWILD, CALIFORNIA
WORKSHOPS Since its founding in 1946, Idyllwild Arts has been firmly rooted in respect for and reverence of Native American arts and culture, offering dynamic Native American Arts workshops and programming for over 70 years. Annual summer workshops stimulate conversations, empower creative contributions, strengthen community, and support Indigenous artistic expression and cultural affirmation. Workshops include: Hopi-Tewa Pottery | Ho-Chunk Porcupine Quill Navajo Weaving | Navajo Inlay Jewelry Cahuilla Basketry Cahuilla Style Pottery ...and much more!
FESTIVAL WEEK JUNE 15 - 19, 2026 FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC Designed to enhance and add depth to the summer workshop experience, the annual week-long Native arts festival provides a provocative learning experience by bringing together distinguished artists, scholars, and cultural specialists to present performances, demonstrations, films, exhibitions, showcases, and the popular Michael Kabotie Lecture Series.
Scan to learn more, or visit idyllwildarts.org/nativeamericanarts
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS MUSEUMS A building in Tenango de Doria, Hidalgo, Mexico, is being renovated to become the REGIONAL CENTRO CULTURAL DE LA SIERRA OTOMÍ-TEPEHUA. The federal, state, and municipal governments provided 7.9 million pesos toward the project. The new cultural center will serve 4,433 people, predominantly from the local Otomí and Tepehua communities. The center will provide studio space for music, poetry, dance, and visual arts, particularly tenango embroidery.
above Regional Centro Cultural de la Sierra Otomí-Tepehua in Tenango de Dorio, Hidalgo. Photo: La Jornada Hidalgo.
ART FAIRS Rememory, the 25th BIENNALE OF SYDNEY, will take place from March 14 to June 14, 2026, throughout Sydney, Australia. The 37 participating artists include several Indigenous artists of the Americas: Ángel Poyón (Kaqchikel Maya), Angélica Serech (Kaqchikel Maya), Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan/Hidatsa/Arikara/Lakota), Edgar Calel (Kaqchikel Maya), Fernando Poyón (Kaqchikel Maya), Gabriel Chaile (Argentina Mestizo), Rose B. Simpson (Santa Clara Pueblo), and Tania Willard (Secwépemc). Rememory, whose title comes from Toni Morrison, is led by Artistic Director Hoor Al Qasimi. Rodrigo Tremembé (Tremembé) and fashion designer Armênia Rocha from Brazil curated an exhibition of Indigenous art and crafts from Ceará in northeast Brazil for RÉVÉLATIONS INTERNATIONAL BIENNIAL OF CRAFTS AND CREATION in Paris. They curated the works in partnership with KUYA (Ceará Design Center) and the Ceará Crafts Center. Rodrigo exhibited a garment and Pompê Tremembé, a mixed-media installation centered on a mat painted with genipap (jagua) and annatto. More than 500 designers from 30 countries participated in the craft biennial held at the Grand Palais de Paris in France in May 2025. EXPO CHICAGO, at the Navy Pier’s Festival Hall in April 2025, included Indigenous representation. The Center
for Native Futures exhibited work by ten Indigenous artists, and Bockley Gallery showcased work by Rosario Perkins (Diné/Akimel O'odham). The collective Postcommodity (Xicano and Cherokee Nation) will be part of IN/SITU: 우리 Uri: We, Us, Our, a curated exhibition. Heather Igliorte (Inuk), who is curating String Games, the fifth edition of the BONAVISTA BIENNALE, has selected 22 artists, including Taqralik Partridge (Inuk), Maureen Gruben (Inuvialuk), Marianne Nicolson (Kwakwaka'wakw), Inuuteq Storch (Kalaaleq), and others, at multiple indoor and outdoor sites across the Bonavista Peninsula, Newfoundland and Labrador, from August 16 to September 14, 2025.
ART SHOWS
above Trail of Tears Art Show Best of Show winner: Jerry Sutton (Cherokee Nation), ᎩᎳᎪᎨ Gilagoge (Spring), 2025, acrylic on canvas. Photo: Edward Holmberg. Image courtesy of the artist. below First recipient of the Mary Ellen Meredith Award for Humor at the Trail of Tears Art Show: Andrea Tidwell (Cherokee Nation), Legends of the Rez, 2024, beadwork on deer hide and canvas. Photo: FAAM.
Jerry Sutton (Cherokee Nation) won Best of Show at the TRAIL OF TEARS ART SHOW. Classification winners were Brooks Henson (Cherokee Nation), painting; Troy Jackson (Cherokee Nation), sculpture; Levi West (Eastern Band Cherokee), pottery; Amy Deer (Winnebago), jewelry; Jennifer McAffrey (Cherokee Nation), textiles; Robin Stockton (Cherokee Nation), miniatures; Andrea Tidwell (Cherokee Nation), diverse art forms; Bryan Waytula (Cherokee Nation), drawings, graphics, and mixed media; Z Long (Cherokee Nation), photography/digital art; and Regina Free (Choctaw Nation), emerging artists. Jon Tiger (Muscogee) won the Trail of Tears Award, Bill Glass Jr. (Cherokee Nation) won the Betty Scraper Garner Elder Award, and Ron Mitchell (Cherokee Nation) won the Bill Rabbit Legacy Award. FAAM sponsored the first Mary Ellen Meredith Award for Humor, given to Andrea Tidwell (Cherokee Nation) for her beaded piece, Legends of the Rez. Jeremy Thompson (Seminole Nation) won the virtual People’s Choice award, and Russell Smith (Cherokee Nation) won the in-person People’s Choice Award. Marjorie Tahbone (Iñupiaq/Kiowa) won the judge’s choice award at the IDITAROD FINE ART SHOW in Nome, Alaska, for a parka she made for her daughter.
FIRST AMERICAN ART MAGAZINE NO. 47, SUMMER 2025 | 13