tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50514388507302848232024-03-18T22:53:46.956-06:00AhaleniaNative American Art History, Writing, Theory, and Practiceahaleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333619966846366243noreply@blogger.comBlogger84125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051438850730284823.post-65186717842164566772020-06-29T14:30:00.001-06:002020-06-29T15:10:40.556-06:00Win a Dana Warrington Earring and Necklace set!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizEFqQmSo0U9PXTi4BTFwCI372y7BQVLe_IViffiaoTusiqNhiedWGUIDYeR7ELJeMMYZCz5-X4PVtpJuR4KozjGFYGpH24chEl0Ku_HgxUVdecFrmoouX4D_fM6lLvMjK0M5ifxVHpZw/s1600/warrington_front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1584" data-original-width="1337" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizEFqQmSo0U9PXTi4BTFwCI372y7BQVLe_IViffiaoTusiqNhiedWGUIDYeR7ELJeMMYZCz5-X4PVtpJuR4KozjGFYGpH24chEl0Ku_HgxUVdecFrmoouX4D_fM6lLvMjK0M5ifxVHpZw/s320/warrington_front.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
Win a matched set of quillwork and wampum necklace and earrings!<br />
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<b>$10 per raffle ticket. </b>I'm raffling this set off to raise funds for the Jacobson House Native Art Center. Purchase tickets by sending $10 per chance to voiceofda@yahoo.com through <a href="https://www.paypal.com/us/home">PayPal</a>. No limit on amount.<br />
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Drawing will be <b>Tuesday, July 7, at 3:00pm </b>Central Daylight Time, posted on Facebook. Winner will be chosen by the Random: All in One App. A name will be entered for every ticket sold, and the app will randomly choose the winner through its Wheel feature.<br />
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Set by Dana Warrington (Menominee/Prairie Band Potawatomi), an award-winning artist based in Cherokee, NC<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMBHfpikTcQVvJSp5KaNwZdJw593i_1OcG580Y2KPY8bu5iE1DmDFC-2_KFEE9jlWSSv3Wm3L0P4ivDXNQ8CX5SdSz2rVGpqTRJs9ZBy8HGlpo9g1ULE7bNlkOBi90szkA_Y758enzJXg/s1600/warrington_medallion_close_up.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="801" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMBHfpikTcQVvJSp5KaNwZdJw593i_1OcG580Y2KPY8bu5iE1DmDFC-2_KFEE9jlWSSv3Wm3L0P4ivDXNQ8CX5SdSz2rVGpqTRJs9ZBy8HGlpo9g1ULE7bNlkOBi90szkA_Y758enzJXg/s320/warrington_medallion_close_up.jpg" width="287" /></a>Porcupine quillwork is an art form completely unique to North America, and Warrington is a master colorist when it comes to dyeing quills.<br />
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The wampum was carved from quahog shells (<span class="st"><i>Mercenaria mercenaria</i>), native to the northern Atlantic Ocean. The earrings and necklace are meticulously edged with glass seed beads and backed with hide.</span><br />
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<span class="st">The three-row medallion is 2-7/8-inches in diameter. Its wampum chain is 23 inches long and held by a lobster claw clasp.</span><br />
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<span class="st">Each earring is 1-3/4-inches in diameter and features two concentric rows of quillwork.</span><br />
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<span class="st"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4Kcd_ZegJq7nPgAeAN7mHI4JEWyHVdIEzYj-6bEJQjRG2OqPm4kbyE8UESVpA2yQkmi6Alwrpx0pICpRKjFmKmpDIyyNiGEKJxA5mhRl7QqAaTka8WFoG2gEAn-jR-zGMTkzFuW-OAo/s1600/warring_earrings.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="605" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4Kcd_ZegJq7nPgAeAN7mHI4JEWyHVdIEzYj-6bEJQjRG2OqPm4kbyE8UESVpA2yQkmi6Alwrpx0pICpRKjFmKmpDIyyNiGEKJxA5mhRl7QqAaTka8WFoG2gEAn-jR-zGMTkzFuW-OAo/s320/warring_earrings.jpg" width="268" /></a>The earrings are valued at approximately $200, and the necklace is valued at $500.They are in excellent condition.</span><br />
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<span class="st">Raffle conducted by America Meredith. The Jacobson House Native Art Center is a Native art nonprofit in Norman, Oklahoma. It will reopen in August to host </span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Azhwakwa: Contemporary Anishinaabe Art</span>, an exhibition of new works by Potawatomi, Odawa, and Ojibwe artists from throughout the United States.</span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">After the drawing, I will mail the necklace and earrings to the winner. —<i>America Meredith</i></span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Questions? <a href="mailto:voiceofda@yahoo.com">Email America</a>.</span><br />
<ul style="text-align: center;">
<li><span class="st"><a href="https://www.jacobsonhousenac.org/" target="_blank">Jacobson House Native Art Center</a></span></li>
</ul>
<i><span class="st">This raffle is being conducted by America Meredith to raise funds for the Jacobson House Native Art Center. Must be 18 years old or older to participate. </span></i><br />
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<span class="st"><i><span class="st">Payments for raffle tickets are not tax deductible. </span>You can make a tax deductible donation directly to the Jacobson House <a href="https://www.jacobsonhousenac.org/" target="_blank">through its website</a>.</i></span><br />
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<br />ahaleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333619966846366243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051438850730284823.post-65642688004733295132014-10-03T15:14:00.002-06:002014-10-03T15:17:14.964-06:00 Shedding Skin: Reconstructing Our Relationship to ArtOn September 20th, the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) hosted a daylong symposium, Shedding Skin: Reconstructing our Relationship to Art, developed by a recent IAIA graduate Alicia Rencountre-Da Silva and current IAIA student Charles Rencountre and funded in part by the New Mexico Humanities Council. Fifteen months in the planning, the Rencountres wanted to create an open forum in which artists felt comfortable speaking freely about their identity and their relation to the art world.<br />
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The questions were not the usual fare, and the line up of speakers was eclectic. I was impressed that leading Native scholars Jolene Rickard and heather ahtone (Chickasaw-Choctaw) flew in for the event, from New York and Oklahoma respectively.<br />
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<b>Keynote Address: Jolene Rickard, PhD (Tuscarora) </b><br />
Jolene Rickard, Associate Professor and Director of the American Indian Program at Cornell University, gave the morning keynote address. Jolene has been traveling extensively and is developing an academic journal for Indigenous aesthetics. She stressed the increasingly global awareness of both Indigenous peoples and the art world. Colleges who sponsored hemispheric perspective, i.e. South and North American, towards Indigenous Americans found language translation to be the biggest challenge. An example she gave of the art world shifting away from Eurocentricism to globalism is the Venice Biennial steadily loosing its edge to the Asian biennials.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYWcHRsSO2lkX5QlpaY0mJsOFCTYfltU8Itynt3nliB_uB_FyekjfXcrsHtgw_2nz7ge14dBHwSDOc9Fqew5FMluUZTRwvulK9qThy0ETQGNutEPv8ITObKp8YXfe82e14LQhNHecsYmc/s1600/85_candace_heather.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYWcHRsSO2lkX5QlpaY0mJsOFCTYfltU8Itynt3nliB_uB_FyekjfXcrsHtgw_2nz7ge14dBHwSDOc9Fqew5FMluUZTRwvulK9qThy0ETQGNutEPv8ITObKp8YXfe82e14LQhNHecsYmc/s1600/85_candace_heather.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Candice Hopkins and heather ahtone</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Jolene pointed out that the World Conference on Indigenous peoples at United Nations was this weekend. The Six Nations have long been international in scope, crossing borders or the “medicine line”—the US–Canadian Border, and have historically engaged the United Nations. In 1977 they delivered “<a href="http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/6Nations/BasicCtC.html" target="_blank">A Basic Call to Consciousness: The Haudenosaunee Address to the Western World</a>” to the UN in Geneva, Switzerland. This built on the past diplomacy of Chief Deskaheh (Cayuga-Oneida), who addressed the League of Nations in 1924.*<br />
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“Our knowledge is embodied,” says Jolene, discussion Indigenous governance. Objects contain information; knowledgeable people have to enactment this knowledge. “Wampum belts,” she points out, “are both political and aesthetic documents,” hinting at the greater meaner art can serve our communities today. She feels that the time between 1925 and 1977 for Native Americans is unexamined history—ripe for college students to research the copious photographic and written records.<br />
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John Mohawk (Seneca) popularized the term “autochthonic,” but Jolene wonders,
“When did we start to use the term ‘sovereignty’?”<br />
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Jolene present beautiful images from the “gold wall” that she and Paul Chaat Smith (Comanche) co-curated, which became the most criticized inaugural exhibit at NMAI DC. These gold artifacts, decontextualized from their cultures, histories, and meanings, uncomfortably reference European lust for gold that resulted in so many murders and removals of Indian peoples. It was loosely arranged like the sun, the gold. Some Central Americas tribes use smelting gold to offer up prayers. Ironically, the display was also the most popular for posed photographs in social media.<br />
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She also shared images from Te Tihi, the gathering of Indigenous artists in Aotearoa (New Zealand). New Zealand has dual language laws; English, Māori and English are the official languages. She realized during her trip that hosting protocols required gifting. Her travels have been inspiration; however, she noted that it is getting more challenging in the US to find funds for travel. The Ford Foundation and Hemispheric Institute fund travel, but typically, Canada is more willing to assist artists in traveling.
Reaching her conclusion, Jolene mused, “It’s easier for people to think about the end of the world than it is to think about the end of capitalism.” The current state of affairs reveals, “Just how dangerous we are as Indigenous people.” As a final thought, she stated, “If Indigenous artists don’t feel they need to know our history, they are missing a major opportunity.”
The floor was opened to questions, and a woman asked Jolene if globalization meant cultural genocide. Jolene responded that in international law “Human rights” trump “Indigenous rights.” Working with Africa she learned that the people there don’t want to label groups in Africa as “Indigenous” due to the term’s baggage. Instead they are exploring “community-based knowledge” in Africa.
Another question led Jolene to observed that, “Most people don’t have the privilege of living with their community. Traditions are anchored in place. Theory is meant to be transportable.” She sees art as experiments that create dialogue. “Creativity now is at the heart of it,” Jolene say, not law, which is usually celebrated in Native American studies programs.
For our morning panel, moderated by Charles Rencountre, was supposed to “discuss the concept of a manifesto that describes the policies, goals, opinions and potential of a new contemporary Native American Arts movement.”<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">* “Deskaheh's trip to the League of Nations in 1923-24 nonetheless marks
the first attempt by North American First Nations to take their claims
for sovereignty to an international forum,” writes Donald B. Smith in
Deskaheh’s entry in <i><a href="http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/deskaheh_15E.html" target="_blank">The Dictionary of Canadian Biography</a></i>. </span><br />
<h2>
<span style="color: #990000;"><b>Morning Panel: Indigenous Art Manifesto</b></span> </h2>
<b>America Meredith (Cherokee Nation)
</b><br />
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The questions I was asked were:<br />
<ol>
<li>Is it time for a Native American Arts Manifesto? </li>
<li>Are their unnamed signs of this already happening that you see? </li>
<li>Do you think that we are ready to organize and rename what is and who we are as artists collectively?
</li>
</ol>
My answers were no, no, and if you want to, go for it. Some stray artists still write manifestos, but they are largely ignored. In <i>Art After the End of Art</i>, philosopher and art critic Arthur C. Danto (1924–2013) described the modern era as a series of art movements using art as a vehicle for exploring the definition of art. Critics, notably Clement Greenberg, viewed art history as a linear progression. Danto saw Andy Warhol’s 1964 <i>Brillo Box</i> as ushering in a new era. Art could now be anything; art no longer had to define “art,” and could focus on other topics, which spelled the end of the linear progression in art history.
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Another perspective is that Feminist Art ended the modern era in art, by radically changing the scope of art world to include previously marginalized groups—women, the GLBTQI communities, people of color—basically the majority of the planet. Our new pluralistic, global art world is confusing but a more honest reflection of humanity. Feminist artists entered the art world with their own values, and Native artists should also actively participate in the global art world with their values intact.
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“Art for art’s sake” is a Northern European concept, put forth during the Enlightenment notably by German philosopher Immanuel Kant. Native American peoples never collectively ascribed to this separation of art from daily or ceremonial life. While the term “holistic” is worn threadbare by overuse, it is an apt description to an Indigenous approach to art. I suggested “integrated” might be a good alternative phrase.
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To the question of “What is Indian art,” I believe T. C. Cannon and IAIA answered that back in the 1960s: “Indian art is art made by an Indian.” The next question would be, “What is an Indian?” My working definition of an Indigenous American is a person with Indigenous American ancestors who is recognized as Indigenous by their community.
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Using the example of the Pan-American Indian Humanities Center, all the wisdom is at the tribal level—it’s encased in our own tribal languages: worldview, philosophy, logic, diplomatics. Our tribes ground us in the free-for-all contemporary art world.
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<a href="http://www.firstamericanartmagazine.com/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.firstamericanartmagazine.com" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha0PT0QuIq3nGvl1AjWnzuFMkvZT1E9qT7P84FGpu6EwgPTXbc4s-J3N5dFE9rIT_Bk2PRZSvI5snZwdWL3ZikO3kwI55iSaXI0r3-QBFnG8AOZRAERGybO1ei5FqUOWBcVCg7M1ji78M/s1600/85_trad_com_psa.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
I shared my PSA about terminology. Neither “contemporary” nor “traditional” are bad words, but paring them together creates a false dichotomy; one term is time-based and one is values-based. The opposite of “traditional” is not the “new”; it is “assimilated.” To actively participate in the contemporary time, the 21st century, we can still retain our tribal values.
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Basically I don’t believe we can speak for all Indigenous American artists. We need a common forum so that artists can speak for themselves, and we can then identify common causes and concerns. Not everyone can attend art school, Native conferences, or every major Native art show. So to foster wider understanding and dialogue, we should turn to writing, to provide a lasting record of our art and thinking. By writing down information and sharing it widely, we can stop repeating the same conversations. To this end I founded <i>First American Art Magazine</i>.
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<b>Stephen Wall (White Earth Ojibwe-Seneca)
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Steve Wall is the Chair of the Indigenous Liberal Studies Department, an artist, and a former tribal judge. Addressing the question, “Are you an Indian or an artist first,” Wall says he is an “artist first,” because we are born as artists or “creative animals.” He is concerned about ghettoization that “Indian art is put off in the corner.” There is tension between the local and the global. The marketplace tends to ask the questions. To achieve recognition as an artist, one typical has to engage the art market, which is a capitalist system. The Western Mind is reductivist; the world is categorized.
Steve succinctly pointed out that the distinction between so-called “fine art” and “craft” is that of class divisions. Wealthy European and later European American men could create “fine art;” poor people made “craft.” This carries over to colonialism, in which the “mother country” believes the colonized has nothing to offer it. Cultural is a one-way movement from the civilized mother country to the uncivilized colony. As recently as 2007, Steve was told that, “There is no such thing as American art history,” since the United States was a colony of England and “American art history” would only be a subset of European art history.
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“The marketplace is based on Native absence,” he said; the “terminal creed” that Natives are all going to disappear and the privileging of historical art over contemporary art.” He pointed out the completely arbitrary and widespread practice of museums combining “Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas.” Steve does support a Native artists’ manifesto, which would be, “Our art will reflect an Indigenous presence.”
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<b>Tony Abeyta (Navajo)
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Tony earned by MFA from New York University and was asked to define “success.” He feels artists are all distinct individuals. He listed influential role models, including Allan Houser, who he had as a young student in Santa Fe. His father Narciso Abeyta, a Studio-style artist, and his contemporaries built the momentum in expanding the Native art world into what we have today. He talks to younger artists and feels they are in a defensive mode, which a focus on rejecting stereotypes and the identities the non-Native world places upon them. Watching the marketplace, he’s noticed that Latin American art has exploded in value on the secondary market and wonders why Native American art has not? Tony said ultimately he didn’t care about how he was defined; he was focused on making art.
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<b>Jim Rivera (Pascua Yaqui)
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Jim, a painter and comic artist, was asked, “How do you shed the identities that don’t fit?” He relayed how as a child in Arizona he was placed in special education programs because he spoke his tribal language. In graduate school, a classmate asked, “Are you Native American? Well, you don’t look like one. […] Well, you have all this material to use,” such as suicide on reservations and a string of other stereotypes. So Jim asked that classmate, “Are you American?” Then why don’t you paint about worshiping the dollar, and other American stereotypes? Then student said, he just wanted to do his art. And Jim pointed out that he did as well. In one series, he painted his grandmother at boarding school, then later in life.
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He described a series of portraits of his grandmother: how she appeared in boarding school photos and she wanted to appear on her own terms. Jim’s teachers asked why in her self-representational piece, he had put his grandmother’s painted canvas on rectangular stretcher bards. That was simply the way he had been taught to present paintings, but when he removed the canvas and hung it without the bars, the piece was liberated. He also described a performance piece in which he placed mask after mask on his face, but they kept falling off.
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“I want you guys to have your voice,” is what Jim says to emerging artists. “You don’t have to ask permission anymore.”
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<b>Alicia Marie Rencountre-Da Silva (Muisca descent)
</b><br />
“What is Native American contemporary art?” asked recent IAIA alumna Alicia Rencountre-Da Silva. She feels it must be, “Inclusive.” She was required to take Western art history, after taking several classes in Native American art history. She noticed the deliberate influencing by non-Natives upon Natives in the arts—“40 years of patronizing influence on the arts” during the mid-20th century. This pattern was broken by artists such as Oscar Howe, who demanded the right to create their own art.
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When the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) was proposed, 184 countries signed on immediately, while the United States, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada were the last four to sign.
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Alicia is focused on where “Art meets life,” which includes the <a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/11/21/woman-eagle-feather-photo-heard-round-world-152357" target="_blank">iconic photographic</a> that Ossie Michelin took with his cell phone of Amanda Polchies and holding up a eagle feather before a solid blue wall of RCMP at a Mi’kmaq anti-fracking demonstrations in Elsipogtog, New Brunswick.
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Washington, DC-based artist Gregg Deal (Pyramid Lake Paiute) made Michelin’s photograph into a popular anti-fracking poster. Alicia also shared Gregg’s anticolonialism mural, comparing colonialism to a can of spray paint. She shared images of Ponca people planting sacred corn in the pathway of the Keystone pipeline in Nebraska, and discussed Honor the Treaties and the Cowboy Indian Alliance as examples of cross-cultural collaboration. Alicia was also inspired by <i>We Honor: The Art of Activism</i>, an exhibit curated by Nani Chacon.
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<b>Follow-Up Questions</b><br />
In the discussion that followed, Charles Rencountre suggested, “Native American art is the mainstream.” An question from the audience followed up with the notion of being “an Indian” or “an artist” first. Jim said, “You are Native no matter what.” Steve suggested that “transcendence” was a more useful term “integration” and said, “The marketplace will define you.” I suggested these artificial binaries (fine art/craft, Indian/artist, contemporary/traditional) stem from the fact that we are conversing in English, which has in intrinsic logic based on paired opposites, as the physician and author Edward de Bono suggests. Whenever someone presents you with a dilemma, search for alternatives. As an artists, Charles Rencountre pointed out that with his surname, he could easily pass as French. “We’re humans first,” said Charles, and he pointed out that if one’s CDIB says they are ¼ Indian, then they are ¾ something else, and shouldn’t that side be important as well?
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A man in the audience asked about spirituality. Tony responded that a universal force was involved in art making; that some might call “the muse.” I pointed out that some Native American artists are atheists and their perspective should be respected. Charles relayed how he used to carve pipes out of pipestone for sale, until he learned much more about the sacred nature of pipestone, and realized he could sculpt other things out of other materials and that would be acceptable.
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<h2>
<span style="color: #990000;">Afternoon Panel: Creativity Is (Still) Our Tradition</span></h2>
<b>Candice Hopkins (Carcross-Tagish)
</b><br />
Candice Hopkins is currently serving as the interim chief curator at the MoCNA. She discussed wanting to activate the space between the terms “creativity” and “tradition.” She shared the work of Brian Jungen, also from Port St. John, British Columbia, like herself. He sculptures out of commercially available goods are “speculative, deliberately opened-ended.” He constructed 20- to 40-foot long whale skeletons from Monobloc chairs. The plastic in the lawn chairs is a petroleum product. His work in Sakahàn, which Candice co-curated, consisted of orange plastic gas cans—ubiquitous in his region—punched with patterns from small holes to resemble beadwork designs of local poisonous plants and venomous insects. She see art as a potential mediator between cultures.
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<b>heather ahtone (Chickasaw-Choctaw)
</b><br />
heather ahtone, Assistant Curator of Native American and Non-Western Art for the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, earned her BFA from IAIA and MFA from OU. Since first publishing her interdisciplinary methodology of critiquing Native art from a Native perspective in 2009, heather has refined it. Now she identifies for key factions of assessing Indigenous art:<br />
<ul>
<li>Materiality</li>
<li>Metaphor/symbolism</li>
<li>Kincentricity—accountability</li>
<li>Temporality.
</li>
</ul>
Currently museums don’t reflect the knowledge embedded in the Native American art objects, so her methodology is a means of recuperating their content. First she showed an Upper Mogollon black-on-white pot, made by members an ancestral culture of the Acoma, Hopi, and Zuni. She explained how the imagery diagramed the entire local hydrologic system: from clouds, precipitation, water on surface, and water underground. The significance is this pot can teach us about earth sciences even today. The iconography of Pueblo pottery is seen as preliterate writing system. “Our cultures are not exclusively oral,” said heather. heather continued sharing interpretations of other pottery symbols—how two interlocking frets represented Tuwapongtumsi, Sand Altar Woman in Hopi pottery. She shared work by Barbara Cerro (Acoma-Hopi), Joe Cerro (Acoma), and Rainy Naha (Hopi). A child working a ball of clay reflects the roundness of Earth; when she or he makes an indention in clay with thumb, which reconnects to Hopi emergence. By using the symbols for their intended purpose, instead of disrupting or otherwise contradicting the meaning, these artists were “not appropriating but perpetuating” their tribes’ iconography. These artists are also careful to alter the designs slightly to remove ceremonial references out of respect. heather shared glass sculpture by Tammy Garcia (Santa Clara). The artist is taking the symbolic language into a new media—expanding it.
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heather then shared Southeastern basketry patterns, which also share a symbolic language, much of which she learned from Ollin Williams (Choctaw).. The diamond and cross pattern on Choctaw basket references stickball. Eastern Band Cherokee weaver Nancy Bradley’s 1941 rivercane burden basket displays a fylfot, which heather interprets as a whirlwind. “Baskets are stories,” said heather. Shan Goshorn (Eastern Band Cherokee) creates double-woven paper baskets. In her Educational Genocide, she is “literately deconstructing history and reweaving it.” From 1879–1918, 12,000 American Indian children from 140 tribes attended Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. Shan incorporated their photos and signatures in her basket. heather also show the work of Gail Tremblay (Mi’kmaq-Onondaga) and Sarah Sense (Chitimacha-Choctaw) as further examples of living artists pushing forward the language of Eastern Woodland basketry.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJM3SrLgT-JQNzxE-Q3AslGeGI8u6s3d6mwvX61nJzrVaOhnqYbIVBarR8ogdAbPr85VKxlzvz9qqaLOG1Ok2bLxbBbuPEDDZ6tf3jLn3qx9MRI2vHMzwGaHiKsEK6HOAGU4wUyWgiubs/s1600/85_nani_chacon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJM3SrLgT-JQNzxE-Q3AslGeGI8u6s3d6mwvX61nJzrVaOhnqYbIVBarR8ogdAbPr85VKxlzvz9qqaLOG1Ok2bLxbBbuPEDDZ6tf3jLn3qx9MRI2vHMzwGaHiKsEK6HOAGU4wUyWgiubs/s1600/85_nani_chacon.jpg" height="227" width="320" /></a></div>
<b>Nanibah Chacon (Diné-Xicana)
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Nani Chacon, originally from Chinle now in Albuquerque, first started painting at age 16 as a graffiti artist. “My interest in art came from a very urban experience.” She said representational figurative painting as “classical” and is “technically challenged by the figure;” however she wants her figurative subjects to tell as deeper story.
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Her painting <i>The Origin</i> overlays a Navajo basket design with a woman. Although she had the design pictured in her head, she couldn’t grid out the painting. Finally she began painting from the center of the basket, known as the “origin” and spiraled outward. “It all finally worked,” and reinforced the metaphors of the basket—a common origin that binds people together.
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This series of Navajo women and textile designs explores Navajo philosophy “and how much it is not about the past.” Nani said. Her 100-foot-long mural, <i>She Taught Us to Weave</i>, in Albuquerque shows Spiderwoman, who taught Navajo people how to weave. A raven represents “cunning behavior.” The whole mural addresses issues of new technologies and how we will use them. The word “hózhó” appears in the mural and is broadcast via radio frequencies—the question being will we choose to use new technologies in a way that incorporates hózhó—beauty, balance, and harmony?
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“I know our ancestors did not create these philosophies to be relics,” Nani said. “They are maps and guides to the future.”
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Her grandmother was a weaver, and Navajo “rugs speak to the region they come from.” Likewise, Nani makes all her mural site-specific. For the Allan Houser sculpture garden at the MoCNA, she was inspired by the sand and painted Manifestations of the Glittering World, which shows a woman emerging form the sand and letting sand stream out of her hand. Glass is made from sand. In the glittering word, our world, “We live in the world of lights. We live in the world of glass.” The strep-fret represents mountains, the cross-symbols works on innumerable levels—stars, four directions, the Christian cross, rifle-scopes. “I loved the cross pattern because it’s so loaded,” she says. “It is a symbol to divide.”
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At the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, Arizona, Nani painted Against the Storm She Gathers Her Thoughts. The storm pattern is in the rug designs, and hair is the extension of thoughts, so tying up hair composes thoughts.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJoRcbc7tInCH3WIbmU5sDBptNbflc3PaFYn4-UWg8dsMrPfp5b1EqDay08SsrAPJ77jHlDYMTCAEBRpRKa5W2cHpqImkULpyeWt33czcQaicvhEc05eFXfGgNyxkflIin_UYCRI_DMZc/s1600/85_teri_greeves_ndn_art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJoRcbc7tInCH3WIbmU5sDBptNbflc3PaFYn4-UWg8dsMrPfp5b1EqDay08SsrAPJ77jHlDYMTCAEBRpRKa5W2cHpqImkULpyeWt33czcQaicvhEc05eFXfGgNyxkflIin_UYCRI_DMZc/s1600/85_teri_greeves_ndn_art.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><b>Teri Greeves (Kiowa-Comanche-Italian)
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Teri Greeves learned how to bead in her mother’s trading post on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. To her, beadwork is a “vehicle to speak.” In her first Indian Market, beadwork didn’t have its own category, so Teri entered her beaded shoes as sculpture. Later she entered in the “diverse arts” category. “I don’t feel limited by an object," she said. When people ask her what she does, “The first answer I always give is, ‘I’m a beadworker.' " People are typically confused, then she identifies herself as an artist, for which they have a context. “The media and materials I use are valid means of expression.” She creates pictorial narrative work, which traditional Plains men do. She’s also inspired by hand-illuminated manuscripts and the notion of a visual language. Teri shared images of her work, including of the Sun Boys, immortals born of the Sun and a human woman.
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In 2006 during the Iraq War, she was asking herself, “Why?’’ She created <i>Prayer Blanket</i>, which explored the Kiowas’ identity as a military people. “I’m a maker and I need to create with my hands—that’s how I process,” she said. Two soldiers are accompanied by dancers, who are escorting them to the Milky Way, “where our dead go.” The piece is divided in the sky world and earth world. The deerhide had scars and even bloodstains, but instead of hiding these, Teri incorporated them into the artwork.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJoRcbc7tInCH3WIbmU5sDBptNbflc3PaFYn4-UWg8dsMrPfp5b1EqDay08SsrAPJ77jHlDYMTCAEBRpRKa5W2cHpqImkULpyeWt33czcQaicvhEc05eFXfGgNyxkflIin_UYCRI_DMZc/s1600/85_teri_greeves_ndn_art.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJoRcbc7tInCH3WIbmU5sDBptNbflc3PaFYn4-UWg8dsMrPfp5b1EqDay08SsrAPJ77jHlDYMTCAEBRpRKa5W2cHpqImkULpyeWt33czcQaicvhEc05eFXfGgNyxkflIin_UYCRI_DMZc/s1600/85_teri_greeves_ndn_art.jpg" height="271" width="320" /></a>To address the outside world’s debate between “fine art” and “craft,” Teri beaded <i>NDN Art</i> in 2008, a stereotypical Native man with a Fauvist palette and a word balloon proclaiming the piece, “Art.”
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“Are you an Indian or are you an artist?” Teri answers, “I’m both. I cannot not be Indian. Just like I cannot not be Italian. I cannot not be the whole of my being.”
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Trying a new direction in 2011, Teri created large scale beadwork appliqués on silk and vinyl that resembled mosaics. She beaded with four to six millimeter Czech cut glass and crystal pony beads. A major collector responded to the new work: “I couldn’t believe you used such big beads.” The collector simply couldn’t see the content.
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One of these works was <i>Wa-ho: The First Song After the Flood</i>, of a woman singing an old lullaby to her baby. Teri framed the mother and child in an arch to reference the Christian Madonna and child. “Beads are not Indian,” Teri acknowledged, “but it doesn’t matter because we made them Indian.”
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Abstraction was a major breakthrough in American Modernist art; however, the American Modernists were inspired by Indigenous artists, and Abstract, geometric designs are the domain of women. “Abstraction in American came from Indian women,” Teri stated.
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<b>Jason Garcia (Santa Clara Pueblo)
</b><br />
Jason Garcia, whose name Okuu Pin means “Turtle Mountain,” first shared his many artistic inspirations. “My art is inspired by my own participation in Santa Clara dances,” he says, which include deer dances and dances at the August feast of St. Clare of Assisi, who happens to be the patron saint of television. Jason shared his inspirations, which included Santa Clara polychrome, which his pueblo was known for prior to its blackware, and comics, such as Joe Kubert of DC comics and the Hernandez brothers’ Love and Rockets. Pablita Velarde, the Santa Clara pueblo painter, was also a genre painter, and Jason pointed out specific details in her work that speak to daily life in the pueblo. Potters who have influenced him include his grandmother Severa Tafoya and his aunt Lois Gutierrez.
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In 2002 Jason made his first graphic tile. His series <i>Tewa Tales of Suspense</i> with images from the Pueblo Revolution. One deals with the revolutions that continued through 1696. These comic book cover-inspired artworks are a way Jason teaches children and the rest of the public about the history of his people. For examples, Tanos (the Hopi-Tewa) were hired as mercenaries by the Hopi, since the Hopi were peaceful people.
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One of Garcia’s <i>Tewa Tales of Suspense</i> shows an image of a woman warrior. A Hopi katsina portrays a woman with her hair half-done, remembering Tano woman warriors, interrupted in their daily activities to fight against an attacking army. Garcia’s Corn Maiden series shows young Pueblo women using technology or thinking of corporate logos. He’s interested in the “maker’s mark,” the artist’s hand on the work, inspired by the centuries-old potsherds he’s found that still have the artist’s fingerprints embedded in the clay. At graduate school at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Garcia was inspired by Bucky Badger, since the badger is also an important animal to Pueblo people. In school, he has been experimenting more with printmaking techniques, such as aquatint and etching.
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<b>Layli Longsoldier (Oglala Lakota)
</b><br />
Layli Longsoldier lives in Tsaile, Arizona, and teaches at Diné College. She earned her MFA from Bard College in New York. She primarily writes but sometimes creates visual art as well. Her father Daniel Longsoldier, an alumnus of IAIA, attended school with Joy Harjo back in 1968. The Longsoldiers are from Pine Ridge. Growing up, she wished her father was “more adventurous with his painting” but came to understand, through his attention to tribally-specific regalia and other details, “When people see his work, it reinforces something of themselves.” One of her installation involves a herd of buffalo made from wire mesh. “We still understand ourselves as buffalo people.” She studied book arts at the University of Wisconsin. After President Obama very quietly signed an apology to Native American peoples in 2009—on a weekend with no tribal leaders present and with two disclaimers—Longsoldier wrote a cycle of 29 poems responding to this “apology.” Wanting to hear the communities’ perspective, she co-curated an art show at the Red Cloud Heritage Center, <i>Whereas We Respond</i> with Mary Bordeaux (Sicangu Lakota). Copies of the government’s resolution were distributed and visitors draw their responses on the walls of the Heritage Center. Afterward the community came and whitewashed the exhibit. She shared a poem inspired by her desire to transmit her culture to her daughter.
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<b>Diane R. Karp—Closing Remarks
</b><br />
Diane Karp, Executive Director of the Santa Fe Art Institute and former Director of New Observations Magazine shared a synopsis of the discussion and closing remarks. She wondered if the same questions linger due to insecurity on the part of individual artists or the Native art community. She mentioned how the feminist movement shifted the maxim, “The political is personal” to “The personal is political.” The floor was open to comments. I asked Teri Greeves if the audience at Crystal Bridges commented on her tribal heritage. She said, no—State of the Art features “people of all genders and all ethnicities. [The artists’ ethnicities] were a part of the conversation by our presence.” Teri concluded, “While I keep an audience in mind, I want to speak to human beings.”
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Jolene mentioned how Steve McQueen, a black British filmmaker famous for 12 Years a Slave, produced Hunger, a film about Irish prison hunger strike. While one would hope the critics and the public would view the content and not focus on the producer’s cultural background, yet Jolene suggests artists view that “less of an imposition and more of a strength. Our deep history is part of the discussions.” Charles Rencountre brought up the idea of a manifesto, asking, “Should artists come together to organize and have a voice?” Jolene discussed Atlatl, who had their first exhibition in 1981 and organized <b>Who Stole the Tee Pee?</b> in 2000. “The US is behind” other countries in the Americas in representing their Indigenous artists, pointed out Stephen Wall. A discussion of the relation between the local and international ensured. Jolene Rickard pointed out that success art uses the local as an entry point but has a power that “transcends as connects to a larger audience.” She asks if there are “discrete Indigenous aesthetics” and feels it is good to “let people struggle to understand the symbolism in our art.”
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“Shedding Skins” felt difference that the usual museum artists’ talk. The Rencoutres seemed genuinely curious about the panelists’ views. An estimated 60 to 100 people came and went throughout the day, a good turnout considering how early on a Saturday the symposium started. People felt comfortable in speaking honestly and directly and even disagreeing at points. Such free dialogue is rare. There was collective agreement that many conversation-killing questions or phrases needed to put to rest. When conversation turned towards how to disseminate information more broadly to me the answer seems obvious—write it down in a public forum, hence my posting these notes online. Only so many people attend Native art conferences and only so many people attend museum talks. To move the conservation forward, we need to record what we say and share it. Maybe only so many people have a genuine interest in issues surrounding Native American art, but these people can’t be at all places at all times, so we need written forums—online and in print.
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<br />
Instead of trying to speak for Native American artists, we should let the artists and art writers share their ideas freely. We need more raw material from which to glean the shared undercurrents of thought. We need a record of our thoughts that can be reexamined years later. We need to record, interpret, contextualize, and disseminate the Native American thinking of our times. The necessary link in moving this dialogue forward is Indigenous art writers!<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.iaia.edu/calendar/shedding-skin-reconstructing-our-relationship-to-art/" target="_blank">Shedding Skins, MoCNA </a></li>
</ul>
ahaleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333619966846366243noreply@blogger.com1Santa Fe, NM, USA35.6869752 -105.9377989999999835.4806132 -106.26052249999998 35.8933372 -105.61507549999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051438850730284823.post-17450286641852049782014-09-04T00:36:00.000-06:002015-01-03T18:58:30.908-07:00An Experiment in Acrylic Painting<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Women in Cultural
Context</i>, a group exhibit, showed at <a href="http://tanseycontemporary.com/sagemoon/MainPages/current_exhibition.html" target="_blank">Tansey Contemporary</a> on Canyon Road.
I went to see <a href="http://www.terigreevesbeadwork.com/" target="_blank">Teri Greeves</a>’ large scale wall pieces—beadwork mosaic appliqués on
raw silk. While there, I discovered the work of another artists in the show,
<a href="http://www.patrickmcgrath-art.com/" target="_blank">Patrick McGrath Muñiz</a>.
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Muñiz is Puerto Rican artist who uses Renaissance techniques
to make biting and clever social commentary on today’s global society. Besides
his portfolio website, he maintains <a href="http://patrickmcgrath.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">an informative blog</a>. I poked around and
discovered his post “<a href="http://patrickmcgrath.blogspot.com/2009/11/sharing-my-own-approach-to-painting.html#.VAgBskhYTEo" target="_blank">Sharing My Own Approach to Painting Sixteenth CenturyVenetian Way</a>.” Artists willing to share their hard-won techniques are rare and should
be celebrated for their magnanimity.</div>
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These days, since launching <a href="http://firstamericanartmagazine.com/" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">First American Art Magazine</i></a>, I don’t have any time left to paint;
however, I agreed to participate in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ImagoMundi</i>. This international art exhibit showcases Luciano Benetton’s
collection of artworks from around the word—all 12 cm x 10 cm—<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Imago Mundi </i>is presently focused on
Native America. So I had a tiny panel to paint and a new method about how to
paint it. We’re running an article about Mapuche silverwork, so I thought
perhaps I could paint something on that subject. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguylO3j-AU9QIoTkpwWfwegJVQ-rcTgVO9sZoOLZFN9S1C6sXNiP9iPjhuDPufcdvyUoKWG8urAen7WZF_yp0mgnwb2L3ECq2gdkTJp8mkrpUahVgCdMSYgkYCSq552er7SMXxzOIkZ8Y/s1600/1_gesso.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguylO3j-AU9QIoTkpwWfwegJVQ-rcTgVO9sZoOLZFN9S1C6sXNiP9iPjhuDPufcdvyUoKWG8urAen7WZF_yp0mgnwb2L3ECq2gdkTJp8mkrpUahVgCdMSYgkYCSq552er7SMXxzOIkZ8Y/s1600/1_gesso.jpg" /></a>When I work from historical photographs, I try to find works
in the public domain, such as Gustavo Milet Ramírez’s 1890 photo of a young
Mapuche woman from Traiguén, Chile. The French-Chilean photographer, who lived
from 1860 to 1917, was known for his photographs of Mapuche people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustavo_Milet" target="_blank">Milet Ramírez</a> took several shots of the
same girl, many of which were made into postcards; I chose the photo in which
she was grinning. Being extraordinarily nearsided, I’m fairly adept at teasing
out information from grainy black-and-white photographs. The texture of her
clothes and mantle are different; coarse woven material versus fur, which might
be a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">quillango</i>, a <span class="st">guanaco-fur
cloak. Guanacos are the increasingly rare, wild cousins of llamas and alpacas,
and their pelts are tawny with creamy-white underbellies.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOcsY-fxCqH1AiPQOfJ3Ba4e0-FnTvooZzkzk8Hc-VjItbKWRYxWYSkCt98VEyBaLbBIV2LtY1RahFgt3FJuZ6DaxscwrOPMp7EPtxvEqq6opIWN9c7zr9mQQowSF4ikjCn7urqKRs-GU/s1600/0_sanding.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOcsY-fxCqH1AiPQOfJ3Ba4e0-FnTvooZzkzk8Hc-VjItbKWRYxWYSkCt98VEyBaLbBIV2LtY1RahFgt3FJuZ6DaxscwrOPMp7EPtxvEqq6opIWN9c7zr9mQQowSF4ikjCn7urqKRs-GU/s1600/0_sanding.jpg" /></a><span class="st"> </span>The day before I had painted the wooden panel purple, so I began
sanding it down to create a drawing surface; however, the texture was
appealing, so I left it for the background and just gessoed the area that the
girl would occupy. Gesso is far easier to draw upon than white paint. In
composing the piece, I included the hands, since hands can be an expressive as
the face
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0irz7I5ZvyicHouS-wlDHzIIfzF9Y0WhSHFXBSpc0Ps3vpdGKiPMnDMvUG7R09ZhaKX0-2x4btygHv4qHB5vrNEVwLUUT0q22CKz11Rw3s2Hg8yBgLzyzRGo6aVZGWpKtHFVEMySMK0w/s1600/2_sketch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0irz7I5ZvyicHouS-wlDHzIIfzF9Y0WhSHFXBSpc0Ps3vpdGKiPMnDMvUG7R09ZhaKX0-2x4btygHv4qHB5vrNEVwLUUT0q22CKz11Rw3s2Hg8yBgLzyzRGo6aVZGWpKtHFVEMySMK0w/s1600/2_sketch.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Step #2 <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Disegno</i></b> (drawing)</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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In his blog post, “Sharing My Own Approach to Painting
Sixteenth Century Venetian Way,” Patrick McGrath Muñiz’s Step #1 is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bozzetto</i></b>
(preliminary sketch). He recommends drawing on a separate paper and
transferring it to the canvas for Step #2 <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Disegno</i></b> (drawing) I just draw the
girl’s basic features and jewelry directly on the panel. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKbuF4W25P69vX32Y0gtuO3rWyYhjHUqo9U_4AqBNY8FtGhX0vgkvbIO-01VylAF1rEZg8Erv5-4KjBcryGnj7dB2a51aYGqb77uJPFkipJ0krxFQwVH_Nftt6Nb0ISpLtOV6yVA4c-L8/s1600/3_outlines.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKbuF4W25P69vX32Y0gtuO3rWyYhjHUqo9U_4AqBNY8FtGhX0vgkvbIO-01VylAF1rEZg8Erv5-4KjBcryGnj7dB2a51aYGqb77uJPFkipJ0krxFQwVH_Nftt6Nb0ISpLtOV6yVA4c-L8/s1600/3_outlines.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Step #3 is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sotto Disegno</i></b> (underdrawing)</td></tr>
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His Step #3 is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sotto Disegno</i></b> (underdrawing), in
which he suggests paints the lines with burnt umber and turpentine. I should
mention I’m painting with Golden acrylics, not oil paints, so mixed the Burnt Umber
with Golden Acrylic Flow Release, which reduces surface tension and makes the
paint “wetter.” The end result looks something like an R. Crumb illustration,
and her eyes are way too big—but it’s painting; it can be fixed!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsdUSf_fQpuTkBx7QdVSj81OON4cQfjheNqskGetcyaRXT0-2SO8MGJbXn87DC7xs6DUIrkrjgqZK41fGWIuPClHXECYZ6A7uak6lhD0KvMyZ2tL_asDVcTijmNJbg5d1d0LXOHGuC8BI/s1600/4_wash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsdUSf_fQpuTkBx7QdVSj81OON4cQfjheNqskGetcyaRXT0-2SO8MGJbXn87DC7xs6DUIrkrjgqZK41fGWIuPClHXECYZ6A7uak6lhD0KvMyZ2tL_asDVcTijmNJbg5d1d0LXOHGuC8BI/s1600/4_wash.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Step #4 <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Imprimatura</i></b> (toned canvas),</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Step #4, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Imprimatura</i></b> (toned canvas), requires
a translucent wash of Venetian Red thinned with linseed oil and turpentine.
Golden recommends substituting Red Oxide for Venetian Red. I used my typical
concoction of Acrylic Flow Release, Retarder, and Acrylic Glazing Liquid.
Typically this makes a wonderful “soupy” transparent wash that doesn’t dry
quickly; however, I found Step #5: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Togliere Strofinare</i></b> (wipe-out
technique) challenging. With oils, you can wipe the light areas clean with a
cotton cloth; however, my wash dried quickly. I could wipe away sections but
the transition was not smooth, so I just touched up the lighter areas with
Titanium White. I’m impressed that at every stage of the painting, Muñiz’s
sketch of Titian’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Gipsy Madonna</i>
was gorgeous. Mine had ups and downs, but wacky looking stages can be redeemed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz_IrWodeA1-CxrZQsuN7m6-jDo6PpYrzDloTYGikcm0L3BBAcrFwtEFYCKq9WQk_scorcPoINDNNOa5HisrtYZ1qS1slICUH_fwfWkHdO8Bp76oUaANgdGI4c60o6BF07gWvj-vnBSmI/s1600/6_wipe_away.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz_IrWodeA1-CxrZQsuN7m6-jDo6PpYrzDloTYGikcm0L3BBAcrFwtEFYCKq9WQk_scorcPoINDNNOa5HisrtYZ1qS1slICUH_fwfWkHdO8Bp76oUaANgdGI4c60o6BF07gWvj-vnBSmI/s1600/6_wipe_away.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0ygJ8NWee2IO_aQb5xyWVsmx3RcRNI74vZC-2MVV1QrcbABdW-yFLkClIV1oP1gsfHEpOPamvvXtG4dA7EtL2Ezcxt0IPIgksUq9Hn9kHmhlHDEih7nA6dNe76AZ3SRyD9Rw4_2TLlEw/s1600/5_media.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0ygJ8NWee2IO_aQb5xyWVsmx3RcRNI74vZC-2MVV1QrcbABdW-yFLkClIV1oP1gsfHEpOPamvvXtG4dA7EtL2Ezcxt0IPIgksUq9Hn9kHmhlHDEih7nA6dNe76AZ3SRyD9Rw4_2TLlEw/s1600/5_media.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left: Step #5: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Togliere Strofinare</i></b> (wipe-out
technique). Right: my typical painting formula</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Step #6 is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sotto Dipinto</i></b> (underpainting)
involves two processes—painting the cool, backgrounds with a grisaille, a range
greys mixed from Ivory Black to White, and a citronage, a range of colors mixed
from Ivory Black, Yellow Ochre, and White. I’m a huge advocate of
underpainting, especially for fleshtones. Typically I use a verdaille, or an
olive-green underpainting, which makes fleshtones pop beautifully. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEx-F9iMuA9q9GBR6i-2RcmMmjQEZ-HiR_a25alqttaO0m2CZcjnSV5kIwF-At7-Yb_SAfLfgz-FcAouj1b3doLTBscy35-HZr9IFP5Ra5SbFmm6kEKjBVtgUsz7UHZHUtworjdpLFLJg/s1600/8_citronage_pallette.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEx-F9iMuA9q9GBR6i-2RcmMmjQEZ-HiR_a25alqttaO0m2CZcjnSV5kIwF-At7-Yb_SAfLfgz-FcAouj1b3doLTBscy35-HZr9IFP5Ra5SbFmm6kEKjBVtgUsz7UHZHUtworjdpLFLJg/s1600/8_citronage_pallette.jpg" height="193" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Palette for the citronage: tones of Titanium White mixed with Yellow Ochre, <br />
and shades of Ivory Black mixed with Yellow Ochre</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZRRqVQCM59dmvrDRCiNTIPN_u8yy941T6m1f7SUs5PJaykeJvGh2K4KpCl5FKDo0AMzA419B1oIgXfpPoLL-GhiJKgqvMf3QCsuBpz8DDTOQLaE30f8jq-PA3OJAjeaFpu-FWrsEA5fc/s1600/9_citronage.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZRRqVQCM59dmvrDRCiNTIPN_u8yy941T6m1f7SUs5PJaykeJvGh2K4KpCl5FKDo0AMzA419B1oIgXfpPoLL-GhiJKgqvMf3QCsuBpz8DDTOQLaE30f8jq-PA3OJAjeaFpu-FWrsEA5fc/s1600/9_citronage.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZRRqVQCM59dmvrDRCiNTIPN_u8yy941T6m1f7SUs5PJaykeJvGh2K4KpCl5FKDo0AMzA419B1oIgXfpPoLL-GhiJKgqvMf3QCsuBpz8DDTOQLaE30f8jq-PA3OJAjeaFpu-FWrsEA5fc/s1600/9_citronage.jpg" height="320" width="268" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Step #6 <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sotto Dipinto</i></b> (underpainting)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The heavy lifting is done, so Muñiz’s final step is Step #7 <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Velaturas</i></b>
(color glazing)—the fun part! First step—I hate the Red Oxide wash over the
purple, so to move the background back to the back, I gave it an Anthraquinone
Blue wash. I also painted her clothing blue, then used Payne’s Gray and
Titanium White for her silver jewelry.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqRs7Dkm0xiSloWGa5okXkIdQsu6ZBnixNxMzBNuE7IU38GW3ZKSIZlMiGgB4RbOrjTZq4ShyqtDyIqJymLuCfFvibD9IfSTEq6N6xQGbVn4Qjy9BqZb6LzfGtOPD-DYu8CWXZt7s6LgY/s1600/10_fur.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqRs7Dkm0xiSloWGa5okXkIdQsu6ZBnixNxMzBNuE7IU38GW3ZKSIZlMiGgB4RbOrjTZq4ShyqtDyIqJymLuCfFvibD9IfSTEq6N6xQGbVn4Qjy9BqZb6LzfGtOPD-DYu8CWXZt7s6LgY/s1600/10_fur.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Step #7 <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Velaturas</i></b>
(color glazing)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I laid down the base colors for her guanaco fur cloak, then
painted on the furry texture. Here soupy paint bleeds too much; the paint
should be less diluted, because the individual strokes should show clearly. I
had to fight myself and use the No. 2 brush as much as possible before skipping
to the extremely fine 0/20 brush. I tweaked out too much on the right side of
the fur, so tried to stay loose on the left side, then went back and smoothed
over areas on the right side of the fur cloak. More work does not necessarily mean
a better painting, nor does more detail. The detail should be concentrated on
the composition’s focus—in this case, the girl’s face—not every corner of the
painting.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKeyMagVSaw60OVqpXBCtKQTVkIw1XEvfPfX0YD0By7qHk0n6h0bAcN_GuPJuE1YM6CsE1PcFM3-QAP568ZDDPUqgugBzGcw4Msx6ZWITTokByv-NzpoYQliXzOpBb8XuC8hzMtGUs0hQ/s1600/12_fleshtones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKeyMagVSaw60OVqpXBCtKQTVkIw1XEvfPfX0YD0By7qHk0n6h0bAcN_GuPJuE1YM6CsE1PcFM3-QAP568ZDDPUqgugBzGcw4Msx6ZWITTokByv-NzpoYQliXzOpBb8XuC8hzMtGUs0hQ/s1600/12_fleshtones.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Step #7 <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Velaturas</i></b>
(color glazing)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally the time has come to cure the girl’s extreme case of
jaudice! Her eyes and teeth both look okay as is, so I add color to her
lips—the challenge being to make her look natural, not as if she were wearing
lipstick. Dramatic shifts between the lip color and dots of white highlights
help make the lips appear moist. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I can finally give her skin some color. My typical palette
for fleshtones include Titanium White, Naples Yellow, Pyrrole Red, Burnt
Sienna, Raw Umber, and Payne’s Gray. In larger, more detailed portraits,
Violent Oxide is fantastic for shadows, but not needed here. Here’s where the
paint should be extremely soupy, with generous portions of Acrylic Glazing Liquid
for transparency and blending. Each stroke is nerve-wracking because the
slightest shift to a mouth, an eyelid, etc. completely changes the expression
of the subject.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYLbNzmHEaGwaIOtC-0EmjheqoSO20MArqxNKygRmcb8DRGUMhI48d8OhW_sDIbh3-1UTtxtYP-XmcE4MsfEdfp6DuTyZr3urH78mOM9nvU4zcl-hoD9j70mYRtFRaQGA9IAE0Qvdzdrw/s1600/14_scale.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYLbNzmHEaGwaIOtC-0EmjheqoSO20MArqxNKygRmcb8DRGUMhI48d8OhW_sDIbh3-1UTtxtYP-XmcE4MsfEdfp6DuTyZr3urH78mOM9nvU4zcl-hoD9j70mYRtFRaQGA9IAE0Qvdzdrw/s1600/14_scale.jpg" height="246" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a seriously tiny painting: 12 cm x 10 cm</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The purple dress was annoying me, so I gave it a glaze of Alizarin
Crimson Hue (Golden doesn’t create toxic colors, so approximates the more historical
toxic colors as close as possible). Her jewelry was lumpy, so I tried to
straighten it out with bolder edges. It’s a gamble whether to paint silver-like
colors or actually to use silver paint; however, this can often look fake and
cheap. Gold paint is very attractive, but silver paint can flop, so I opted to
leave the jewelry blue-white.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In lieu of a frame, I sanded down the edges to the white
gesso. So small, kind of funky, but finished!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMLrP_8EZFp5q57hVhAiiYEDJSK3Iz9x1bUR0xQ5fupAim2LQrzrxiO9IzD3YCmBjIrLsVtXNGI2lEgtlUHVRjr9TjVhnsIimbfDMzfAHgu5sqOWpUCM1qE6bk-k0l3t3_EkJR1ej6GKI/s1600/mapuche_girl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMLrP_8EZFp5q57hVhAiiYEDJSK3Iz9x1bUR0xQ5fupAim2LQrzrxiO9IzD3YCmBjIrLsVtXNGI2lEgtlUHVRjr9TjVhnsIimbfDMzfAHgu5sqOWpUCM1qE6bk-k0l3t3_EkJR1ej6GKI/s1600/mapuche_girl.jpg" height="400" width="330" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Mapuche Girl after Milet Ramírez</i>, 2014, acrylic on wooden panel</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While painting I have hours to ponder issues such as
cultural appropriation. Why am I, a Swedish-Cherokee artist painting a Mapuche
person when I’ve never even been to Chile? By painting a portrait, hopefully I’m not
stepping over the line of respectful outsider. I’m not trying to assume Mapuche
identity; it would be bizarre if I tried to create Mapuche silver jewelry or
painted drums—to attempt usurp their style.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Painting portraits based on historical photographs, although
a ubiquitous practice is not by any stretch of the imagination cutting-edge
art, and yet it does have some value. Our tribal histories are still invisible
in mainstream culture. Painting is not a neutral representation—it’s a
time-consuming practice laden with its own ancient history. Painting someone puts
them on a pedestal, exults them. Taking this antique image and bringing into
the 21st century, in vivid color, is a form of time travel and a statement that
this person and her culture are important—that we in North America should look
at and learn from South American tribes. I kept thinking about the idea of an
“Indian princess,” because a “princess” is most ready European archetype to describe
this young woman—confident and smiling—draped in luxurious furs and extravagant
silver jewelry. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thanks to Patrick McGrath Muñiz in sharing guidelines for this small experiment in painting!</div>
ahaleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333619966846366243noreply@blogger.com5Santa Fe, NM, USA35.6869752 -105.9377989999999835.4806132 -106.26052249999998 35.8933372 -105.61507549999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051438850730284823.post-42553641283387083612014-06-21T21:53:00.000-06:002014-06-21T21:53:58.325-06:00Newark Earthworks<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwPHNP5b40mKIuwoco2m_xg69Jg6WlQ4ewzrRx2uVRQF_ElKVot217H3rkeTPCfu8hPnm43DXJ7ApeqwyhKm4UEBrAH6_zomT3ntIdKGZjRsoELsd3ZPcZWDTzv1BvdL6xoO1ntW6iROU/s1600/4_deer_barrier_mound.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwPHNP5b40mKIuwoco2m_xg69Jg6WlQ4ewzrRx2uVRQF_ElKVot217H3rkeTPCfu8hPnm43DXJ7ApeqwyhKm4UEBrAH6_zomT3ntIdKGZjRsoELsd3ZPcZWDTzv1BvdL6xoO1ntW6iROU/s1600/4_deer_barrier_mound.jpg" height="336" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deer on one of eight barrier mounds at the gap of the Octagonal Mound of the Newark Earthworks</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Will post soon!ahaleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333619966846366243noreply@blogger.com0Newark, OH, USA40.0581205 -82.40126420000001439.960921 -82.562625700000012 40.15532 -82.239902700000016tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051438850730284823.post-6391888459584692492014-06-19T22:46:00.003-06:002014-06-19T23:05:09.052-06:00Hopewell Culture National Historical Park + Jarrod Burks presentation<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0XFoqpoI9wGbl_A4cyGONMvFsYwQHXIVe_w5WPuPoB-2DCJoan4NppfYnUqXeyXFDda_D4ydKRnw3AHYfG5cTBC81-PyHnDzWu-LSDzGWQzn_erC4eIYZoHLQRsENL9oBhCjHv6qsNQc/s1600/Ohio-mounds_ross+county_north+fork+works.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0XFoqpoI9wGbl_A4cyGONMvFsYwQHXIVe_w5WPuPoB-2DCJoan4NppfYnUqXeyXFDda_D4ydKRnw3AHYfG5cTBC81-PyHnDzWu-LSDzGWQzn_erC4eIYZoHLQRsENL9oBhCjHv6qsNQc/s1600/Ohio-mounds_ross+county_north+fork+works.jpg" height="226" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hopewell Mound Group, as mapped by<br />
<span class="st">Ephraim Squier and Edwin Davis, published in 1848</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Today we went to the primary site for the Middle Woodland societies known as the Hopewell Tradition: the <b>Hopewell Cultural National National Historic Park</b> in Chillicothe, Ohio. I'm beginning to appreciate the extent that manmade earthworks—mounds, earthen enclosures, and ditches, some lined to hold water—covered the landscape, particularly in Ross County, of Ohio.<br />
<br />
In the Ohio River Valley, the Early Woodland society known as the Adena culture flourished from 1000–200 BCE. This culture evolved into the the Middle Woodland cultural tradition known as Hopewell, who flourished from 200 BCE to 500 CE. The trade network of the Hopewellian Exchange, while originating in Ohio, ultimately spanned from Canada to the Gulf Coast.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhARGvP9Menl_HzC5GJBCUYGBP7-x8teao1_ojlBL5IMU_8oUExlTxsdrv5SpU8nD1VRmY1wVW0mdWnMJspJP4n-rJUe08E2yL12NjIh8ssgsVumMN5Ha9NOcomBJv6TaT9fhPF-2wERlM/s1600/3redwing_blackbird.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhARGvP9Menl_HzC5GJBCUYGBP7-x8teao1_ojlBL5IMU_8oUExlTxsdrv5SpU8nD1VRmY1wVW0mdWnMJspJP4n-rJUe08E2yL12NjIh8ssgsVumMN5Ha9NOcomBJv6TaT9fhPF-2wERlM/s1600/3redwing_blackbird.jpg" height="308" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This little redwing blackbird is one seriously angry bird.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
First we visited the Hopewell Mound Group on a tour led by Dr. Brett
Ruby, who has also studied Hopewell sites in Indiana and Tennessee. He
said that vegetation management is the park's greatest challenge. Ohio is incredibly lush. Since
the earthen enclosures of the Hopewell Mound Group are no longer clearly visible, the park mowed a
large swath into the foliage to reveal where the earthworks once
stood. From north to south, the enclosures run 2,800 feet.<br />
<br />
In
1891, three connected mounds were excavated and many of the Hopewell
artifacts in museums today came from these burial mounds. All the other
mounds at the site were excavated several times in subsequent years.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWB33D6STjzvFbIpNtAeAbkTPD6aFk4kYj5O5n9aCZcKa-VoPDA7lAWc6Y865RNUmAC0Cs7SU2N29XE4gqqpvsuqSLYo3W65hFA1NQy52wWty9B5ZuKCOEBu8h-iSZkQvEglIZWkKM-0M/s1600/3carolina_parakeet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWB33D6STjzvFbIpNtAeAbkTPD6aFk4kYj5O5n9aCZcKa-VoPDA7lAWc6Y865RNUmAC0Cs7SU2N29XE4gqqpvsuqSLYo3W65hFA1NQy52wWty9B5ZuKCOEBu8h-iSZkQvEglIZWkKM-0M/s1600/3carolina_parakeet.jpg" height="317" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Copper repoussé, possibly representing a Carolina parakeet</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The Hopewell Cultural National Historical Park maintains a number of close but not adjacent sites. We drove to the immense Siep Mound. Mound City is next to the museum includes 23 mounds, enclosed by earthen embankments with openings at regular intervals. The US Army destroyed most of these mounds in WWI, so they have been rebuilt. A walkway leads down to the nearby Scioto River.<br />
<br />
The interpretative center has numerous artifacts and reproductions on display, including mica cut-outs, copper repoussé objects, ear spools, shell bead necklaces, and the characteristic effigy platforms pipes for which Hopewellian artists are so famous.<br />
<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPlTWLafQA1SeBjhUSbpOnNeSzvYiFyTtzh-mbTGUoqutgTp2KSgVpinxmiIBBB06MYu6fr9G5DV3z5JbFsMcLGsMZm3azeG1089CCQ0BvX3pk7Xrkm89qe2PH0TNpRvIy-DrQkXECm3Q/s1600/3muskrat.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPlTWLafQA1SeBjhUSbpOnNeSzvYiFyTtzh-mbTGUoqutgTp2KSgVpinxmiIBBB06MYu6fr9G5DV3z5JbFsMcLGsMZm3azeG1089CCQ0BvX3pk7Xrkm89qe2PH0TNpRvIy-DrQkXECm3Q/s1600/3muskrat.jpg" height="248" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Muskrat (?) swimming in the Scioto River
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Jarrod Burks gave a presentation to a packed house about his success mapping ancient earthworks with remote sensing technologies. These include LiDAR, Light Detection and Ranging, which allows earthworks to be seen through forest canopies, and the magnetometer, which through variations in the magnetic fields can sense underground trenches. Through walking carefully over a site with a magnetometer, either handheld or rolled, Burks can create a map of the underground site, which reveals ditches, earthworks, and post holes.<br />
<br />
Remote sensing technologies are extremely exciting developments since they allow archaeologists to glean valuable information about sites, without disturbing burials or sacred sites by excavating them. Tribal archaeologists often couple remote sensing with surface collection, since both are non-intrusive, allowing tribes to know about their ancestors without disrespecting them.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhARGvP9Menl_HzC5GJBCUYGBP7-x8teao1_ojlBL5IMU_8oUExlTxsdrv5SpU8nD1VRmY1wVW0mdWnMJspJP4n-rJUe08E2yL12NjIh8ssgsVumMN5Ha9NOcomBJv6TaT9fhPF-2wERlM/s1600/3redwing_blackbird.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFwTuzhSNZigoWdVgc0qmbryQqwui3j6fy7L9zyN-40HTyQGLe_1xLp4HFzyo4wMZg4KINr-61YCfeo2n9oYkfJ4gnKEFWIe1B8V8j4FH4nh_EL_ArF6_YyFhoIVJR-i3Sz4wYB7PF1ok/s1600/3seip_mound.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFwTuzhSNZigoWdVgc0qmbryQqwui3j6fy7L9zyN-40HTyQGLe_1xLp4HFzyo4wMZg4KINr-61YCfeo2n9oYkfJ4gnKEFWIe1B8V8j4FH4nh_EL_ArF6_YyFhoIVJR-i3Sz4wYB7PF1ok/s1600/3seip_mound.jpg" height="217" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Siep Mound</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPL8CkXgbxbmogklUR9Vwt2o9iRYUQaHbruu8Lb2C-xFyJx_baJ-3HshwPTQCwinw_qLPBsUO6RRUr7TB47yHoqsj4sjoYiQAlzZS1AL99bs9wXQd4m7w3uzRhL2XJODRiO7ucPf-eoSY/s1600/3hopewell_mound_group.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPL8CkXgbxbmogklUR9Vwt2o9iRYUQaHbruu8Lb2C-xFyJx_baJ-3HshwPTQCwinw_qLPBsUO6RRUr7TB47yHoqsj4sjoYiQAlzZS1AL99bs9wXQd4m7w3uzRhL2XJODRiO7ucPf-eoSY/s1600/3hopewell_mound_group.jpg" height="206" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mound City—these mounds have all been reconstructed</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.nps.gov/hocu/index.htm" target="_blank">Hopewell Cultural National Historical Park</a>, official NPS site</li>
<li><a href="http://www.ovacltd.com/Staff03.shtml" target="_blank">Jarrod Burks</a>, Ohio Valley Archaeological Consultants</li>
<li><a href="http://nps-gov.academia.edu/BretRuby" target="_blank">Brett Ruby</a>, papers on Academia.edu </li>
</ul>
ahaleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333619966846366243noreply@blogger.com1Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, 16062 Ohio 104, Chillicothe, OH 45601, USA39.361789 -83.09250229999997839.165217 -83.415225799999973 39.558361000000005 -82.769778799999983tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051438850730284823.post-60480777161520510152014-06-19T09:06:00.000-06:002014-06-19T09:06:25.500-06:00Fort Ancient EarthworksSorry, no time to write much but here are images. More later!<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzDr2QaipQvJTt2GCCy7oEExxBWBChG_YzZJn_w6jW4rMH3-o3je1e_BTBbArgrdPBTpcY0XGyUWvbT0DhUxJpV_Byg71_cLB8s_QVqWveBif7ysl8m0g_6NwadvhdgvFAd8DUgNf_AxI/s1600/ft_ancient.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzDr2QaipQvJTt2GCCy7oEExxBWBChG_YzZJn_w6jW4rMH3-o3je1e_BTBbArgrdPBTpcY0XGyUWvbT0DhUxJpV_Byg71_cLB8s_QVqWveBif7ysl8m0g_6NwadvhdgvFAd8DUgNf_AxI/s400/ft_ancient.jpg" /></a><br />
Fort Ancient Archaeological Park museum. This site is the largest hilltop earthwork enclosure, located near Oregonia, Ohio. The edges of the hilltop were flanked by earthwork enclosures built by the earlier settlement of Woodland people who were part of the Hopewellian exchange. It was late settled by the Fort Ancient peoples.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYm6YLcNNuOHxVGRwaL3twlp-dR76u5hLLUPZd2MsHKYZkhu6cx6mfRmtBT8LHxAJy7A7qCk_4ZbAVuaSVqEUkXBG0_DVf2F_itO2zJ4sGhLbXIIQ-WORBVVuT1PFAHblFPI1WVCG19Ho/s1600/bird_claw_mica.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYm6YLcNNuOHxVGRwaL3twlp-dR76u5hLLUPZd2MsHKYZkhu6cx6mfRmtBT8LHxAJy7A7qCk_4ZbAVuaSVqEUkXBG0_DVf2F_itO2zJ4sGhLbXIIQ-WORBVVuT1PFAHblFPI1WVCG19Ho/s400/bird_claw_mica.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mica bird claw cut out, sometimes considered a peregrine falcon claw</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm2ariVDaR-UWS7fLsBD7Q2HXL5Tqnh7ABuG3j0TX9d3_-RwoNo6tRAcxkUYJyo6LQPx1eViU-jgZF7Hg4ylhaVr9rGAXZW7bDL5c5iA76Sx5CQWP7xIBkjINbYfiOKvfIEQcWQCh3URU/s1600/ft_a_stone_circle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm2ariVDaR-UWS7fLsBD7Q2HXL5Tqnh7ABuG3j0TX9d3_-RwoNo6tRAcxkUYJyo6LQPx1eViU-jgZF7Hg4ylhaVr9rGAXZW7bDL5c5iA76Sx5CQWP7xIBkjINbYfiOKvfIEQcWQCh3URU/s1600/ft_a_stone_circle.jpg" height="216" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Stone circles" mean something else here in Ohio. The original stones are buried.<br />These replicas are carefully marked with coins laid down underneath so no one will mistake them.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJrEZgoPLm3vV07J5phbM7xr6SZqjhGf2-M8NPxMxyjIgOsG9-XlnLCUzaYy7jmI8npge1ZjHMXDNiWGoEHiMSvAkNV2y3nDDy96GuDWKUrUhqs5VmRbKChJKLAGoEGXifJvJbSxU2We8/s1600/ft_a_view.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJrEZgoPLm3vV07J5phbM7xr6SZqjhGf2-M8NPxMxyjIgOsG9-XlnLCUzaYy7jmI8npge1ZjHMXDNiWGoEHiMSvAkNV2y3nDDy96GuDWKUrUhqs5VmRbKChJKLAGoEGXifJvJbSxU2We8/s1600/ft_a_view.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Insanely beautiful view. If not covered in vegetation, this would overlook two serpent-shaped<br />effigy mounds, one marking the summer solstice; one the winter. Apparently the larger sites mark<br />both solar and lunar calendars.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzDr2QaipQvJTt2GCCy7oEExxBWBChG_YzZJn_w6jW4rMH3-o3je1e_BTBbArgrdPBTpcY0XGyUWvbT0DhUxJpV_Byg71_cLB8s_QVqWveBif7ysl8m0g_6NwadvhdgvFAd8DUgNf_AxI/s1600/ft_ancient.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
ahaleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333619966846366243noreply@blogger.com0Oregonia, OH 45054, USA39.4508937 -84.09604519999999236.2860247 -89.259619199999989 42.615762700000005 -78.9324712tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051438850730284823.post-16985934886854690662014-06-18T06:32:00.000-06:002014-06-20T08:29:20.326-06:00Holder-Wright Earthworks, Jeffers Mound, and Kerr Mound<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp5WdtvSNVWbi1lhhZlHod-677zK_-ilKvFER1cpu5m4qXjBbpClIKNXWDHEUBS39iaWcFvoM6vEgOIp4ZlWBZhLYiK9N3bC-N_xARS0wBJ2sgsXyF8cGI7LAFwx7OX_A0FkaHQjRBsXs/s1600/jeffers_mound.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp5WdtvSNVWbi1lhhZlHod-677zK_-ilKvFER1cpu5m4qXjBbpClIKNXWDHEUBS39iaWcFvoM6vEgOIp4ZlWBZhLYiK9N3bC-N_xARS0wBJ2sgsXyF8cGI7LAFwx7OX_A0FkaHQjRBsXs/s1600/jeffers_mound.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 40-foot tall conical Jeffers Mound is covered in vegetation,<br />
including approximately 40 trees and ring of poison ivy</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ohio State University’s American Indian Center sponsored
Linda and my trip here to observe the prehistoric earthworks. The Newark
Earthworks Center co-sponsored our trip, and our hosts are Marti Chaatsmith
(Comanche-Choctaw) and Christine Ballengee Morris (Eastern Cherokee).
Earthworks are ubiquitous in Ohio, and OSU and NEC are striving to protect them
by increasing awareness about them.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ohio has no federally recognized tribes; however, a number
of historical tribes lived here before being relocated to Indian Territory and
other regions. These tribes include (but are not limited to):<br />
<ul>
<li>Anishinaabe (Odawa, Ojibwe, Potawatomi)</li>
<li>Delaware (Lenape)</li>
<li>Eel River people </li>
<li>Erie</li>
<li>Kaskaskia (enrolled today in the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma)</li>
<li>Miami</li>
<li>Mingo (enrolled today in the Seneca-Cayuga Nation)</li>
<li>Piankashaw (enrolled today in the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma)</li>
<li>Sauk </li>
<li>Shawnee</li>
<li>Wea (enrolled today in the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma)</li>
<li>Wyandotte (Wendat).</li>
</ul>
What's interesting is that the Miami, Shawnee, and Wyandotte people arrived in Ohio from the East in the 17th century and openly state they did not build the earthworks. Adena earthworks date back 3,000 to 2,200 years, and Hopewell earthworks date back 2,200 to 1,500 years, so in truth, it would be extremely difficult to determine what tribes are connected to the earthworks. It is debated whether or not Fort Ancient culture, which only dates back 1,000 to 250 years, descends from the Hopewell tradition. Did Fort Ancient develop in situ or emigrate from another region into Ohio?<br />
<br />
A Miami scholar told Marti Chaatsmith that Miami weren't connected to the earthworks and had no specific language about them. He suggested that verbs would be the place to look—to planning and building major earthworks. What Indigenous language has these terms? Seems like Anishinaabemowin would be an intriguing candidate to study.<br />
<ul>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During our busy first day we visited the
Holder-Wright earthworks in Dublin, Jeffers Mound in Worthington, and the Kerr Mound located
between two residential houses in Pickerington.</div>
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I’ll share more details when there’s time!</div>
ahaleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333619966846366243noreply@blogger.com1Columbus, OH, USA39.9611755 -82.9987942000000239.571838500000005 -83.644241200000025 40.3505125 -82.353347200000016tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051438850730284823.post-30349766241897891652014-06-16T16:36:00.001-06:002014-06-16T16:39:25.545-06:00Ohio Earthworks<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy4J0Y0v93Mb-yQ6UFwW78URDfJEbS4VwwPChOYT3mFyOKs9W4iL67Mq_0L9iM9CbuoQ9hIugTdL8DRH38wF4rhO5FCuG76p7Zxq3c41ttoPvdTThyphenhyphensiq5cDRWXTqf9dpKQFUqoOJdOKk/s1600/Ohio_Arch_Cultures_map_HRoe_2008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy4J0Y0v93Mb-yQ6UFwW78URDfJEbS4VwwPChOYT3mFyOKs9W4iL67Mq_0L9iM9CbuoQ9hIugTdL8DRH38wF4rhO5FCuG76p7Zxq3c41ttoPvdTThyphenhyphensiq5cDRWXTqf9dpKQFUqoOJdOKk/s1600/Ohio_Arch_Cultures_map_HRoe_2008.jpg" height="229" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Map of precontact sites in Ohio by <span class="mw-mmv-author">Heironymous Rowe</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Thanks to American Indian Studies Program at the Ohio State University, Linda Lomahaftewa and I are embarking on another precolumbian journey—this time to explore Ohio's Ancient Earthworks!<br />
<br />
Ohio is the birthplace of three major civilizations:<br />
<ul>
<li>Adena culture (ca. 1000 - 200 BCE)</li>
<li>Hopewell Exchange (ca. 200 BCE - 500 CE)</li>
<li>Fort Ancient culture (1000-1750 CE )</li>
</ul>
Marti Chaatsmith, the Associate Director of the Newark Earthworks Center, and Christine Ballengee Morris, Professor of Arts Administration and Policy at OSU, created an amazing itinerary that includes:<br />
<ul>
<li>The Great Serpent Mound<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjerzXPMv1eZJjua_6liDzz9vdDSRAL4g7yrmh5aL911WFrH-dpIQxLn6gJvjK3tGZzuSR52Upnqb4qn55IGtUXVqMtFtBsPfopjP5EArctf-XbHp7g80a0g-YGsGrfYeJg17LjgcAz75I/s1600/Hopewell_culture_falcon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjerzXPMv1eZJjua_6liDzz9vdDSRAL4g7yrmh5aL911WFrH-dpIQxLn6gJvjK3tGZzuSR52Upnqb4qn55IGtUXVqMtFtBsPfopjP5EArctf-XbHp7g80a0g-YGsGrfYeJg17LjgcAz75I/s1600/Hopewell_culture_falcon.jpg" height="201" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hopewellian copper bird, the Mound City, Ohio</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</li>
<li>Fort Ancient Earthworks</li>
<li>Mound City [Hopewell Culture National Historic Park],</li>
<li>Newark Earthworks: the Octagon and Great Circle Earthworks</li>
<li>Panther Mound</li>
<li> Jeffers Mound</li>
<li>Wright-Holder Earthworks</li>
<li>Ohio Historical Society</li>
<li>Flint Ridge State Park</li>
<li>and, for fun, the Longaberger Basket Building.</li>
</ul>
We'll post our discoveries and adventures here. For more information about Ohio's precontact earthworks, check out: <br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://newarkearthworkscenter.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Newark Earthworks Center blog</a></li>
<li><a href="http://ancientohiotrail.org/" target="_blank">Ancient Ohio Trail</a>. </li>
</ul>
ahaleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333619966846366243noreply@blogger.com1Ohio, USA40.4172871 -82.90712300000001334.2103666 -93.2342715 46.624207600000005 -72.57997450000002tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051438850730284823.post-3350532736894814232014-03-26T14:29:00.001-06:002014-03-26T14:29:48.338-06:00End of pop-ad spam!Thanks so much to Scott Andrews for pointing out the problems with pop-ad spam on this blog. I thought Google had allowed pop-ads on their blogs, so I just abandoned this blog. However, it turns out that the gadget Sociable was too blame and having removed it, I feel like actually blogging again!ahaleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333619966846366243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051438850730284823.post-11725595392400661732013-06-24T15:29:00.000-06:002013-06-24T15:29:08.543-06:00Help First American Art Magazine Print Issue N°1!<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ahalenia/first-american-art-magazine-printing-issue-no-1?ref=home_location" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm_CjNSQvOWDUIiqezn7gxLuvsnPtloNL-8QYMevYMDLiXPShsowx_h9yxvKf9OA3feO_9K9goOL7k73hNj3ezHj-UjXPKnuydVDtMvz6e_jrwEoxqWEDccFwFFQppFnGEc5AVgswNLzc/s1600/web_kickstarter.gif" /></a>FAAM fills a gaping void by promoting critical writing on aboriginal
art of the Americas directed at the public and driven by artists. It
synthesizes the academic and the public perspectives and promotes
artists with little to no support infrastructure outside of their own
communities. Without a doubt it is on track to be one of the strongest,
highest quality publications of its kind. </blockquote>
<div style="text-align: right;">
—David Winfield Norman,<br />art writer, Olso, Norway</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm_CjNSQvOWDUIiqezn7gxLuvsnPtloNL-8QYMevYMDLiXPShsowx_h9yxvKf9OA3feO_9K9goOL7k73hNj3ezHj-UjXPKnuydVDtMvz6e_jrwEoxqWEDccFwFFQppFnGEc5AVgswNLzc/s1600/web_kickstarter.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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Our pilot Issue N°0 was successfully published in April, and now we're almost ready to print Issue N°1, which will be out in early August. To help raise funds for some of the printing costs, we've launched a <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ahalenia/first-american-art-magazine-printing-issue-no-1?ref=home_location">Kickstarter campaign</a>, asking for a minimum of $4,900, approximately half of our printing costs. After 22 days, we've raised 89% of our requested funds. Now we just have one week left to raise the rest of the funds. With Kickstarter, you have to raise the entire amount to receive any of the pledged funds. So, we're asking your help in printing Issue N°1. No amount is too small, and every bit helps—<a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ahalenia/first-american-art-magazine-printing-issue-no-1?ref=home_location">donate today</a>. And thanks for your interest and support!</div>
ahaleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333619966846366243noreply@blogger.com0Americas54.5259614 -105.25511870000003-23.430633599999993 89.510506299999975 90 59.979256299999975tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051438850730284823.post-64398897893621295332013-05-01T12:03:00.000-06:002013-05-01T12:03:23.757-06:00First American Art Magazine Is Online!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB0RvPDthIi8rVRxqKdAYW9rHYwPBs4YipAisOVDE8vxoeXqsmeTaDdKlPvifuo8XfFL9C0rWSQxlOIYSS1O7tH0FLe5pT250pOXRQ7kfCqUzH6_GX_6-oiIMKxysOSQy6KBwqSpgoHUc/s1600/faa0_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB0RvPDthIi8rVRxqKdAYW9rHYwPBs4YipAisOVDE8vxoeXqsmeTaDdKlPvifuo8XfFL9C0rWSQxlOIYSS1O7tH0FLe5pT250pOXRQ7kfCqUzH6_GX_6-oiIMKxysOSQy6KBwqSpgoHUc/s320/faa0_cover.jpg" width="246" /></a></div>
<i>First American Art Magazine</i>, the new magazine dedicated to serious coverage of arts of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North and South, is now available for free online at <a href="http://firstamericanartmagazine.com/issue0.html">www.firstamericanartmagazine.com</a>.<br />
<br />
High quality, glossy print versions of the magazine are <a href="http://firstamericanartmagazine.com/subscribe.html">available online</a> as well. This pilot issue profiles: <br />
<ul>
<li><b>Orlando Dugi</b><br />Diné beadwork artist and fashion designer</li>
<li><b>Anita Fields</b><br />Osage-Muscogee Creek ceramic artist</li>
<li><b>Tom Jones Jr.</b><br />Ho-Chunk photographer and conceptual artist</li>
<li><b>Erin Shaw</b><br />Chickasaw–Choctaw painter and mixed media artist.</li>
</ul>
Feature articles include "More Than Just a Trend: Rethinking the 'Native' in Native Fashion," by Dr. Jessica R. Metcalfe (Turtle Mountain Chippewa); "Northern Lights: Greenlandic Art in the 21st Century," by America Meredith (Cherokee Nation), and "Something Imperialistic Happened on the Way to the Louvre: <em>Delegation Amérindienne</em> 2012, An Artist's Perspective," by Roy Boney Jr. (Cherokee Nation). Departments include book and art show reviews, a graphic design column by Neebinnaukzhik Southall (Rama First Nation Chippewa), literature by Dr. Reid Gómez (Navajo), art news, classified ads, memorial articles, and much more.<br />
<br />
The <i>First American Art Magazine</i> website has <a href="http://firstamericanartmagazine.com/calendar.html">calendar listings</a> for upcoming Native American art events and <a href="http://firstamericanartmagazine.com/calls_for_entry.html">calls for entries, grants, fellowships, and other opportunities</a>.<br />
ahaleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333619966846366243noreply@blogger.com1Americas54.5259614 -105.25511870000003-23.4352176 89.510506299999975 90 59.979256299999975tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051438850730284823.post-89177660531051482292013-04-24T23:17:00.001-06:002013-04-24T23:35:59.686-06:00Terminology<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0CkJ2sw6SSoQBrXv2N3M5e7jWJPziRxxJiulyptXhCINpPWj12xl7eayJs01OpJnawcWPbD-W8wOuHEsz6_Insqu0IAaNa4rRHQ9DVh8KUJhM4wJKDRD0tDd6panqhPHsiYa1sztw0jo/s1600/800px-Basketry-covered_lightbulb_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0CkJ2sw6SSoQBrXv2N3M5e7jWJPziRxxJiulyptXhCINpPWj12xl7eayJs01OpJnawcWPbD-W8wOuHEsz6_Insqu0IAaNa4rRHQ9DVh8KUJhM4wJKDRD0tDd6panqhPHsiYa1sztw0jo/s320/800px-Basketry-covered_lightbulb_01.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Makah basketry-covered lightbulb, ca. 1900, Red cedar bark, bear<br />
grass, commercial dyes, over a lightbulb, Seattle Art Museum</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I would like to propose taking one term away from you and giving you another.<br />
<br />
"Ethnographic art" is the one I'd like to remove. In art, context is everything; however, did the people who created the works of art that end up in ethnographic museums think of themselves as "ethnographic artists"? Absolutely not. This term smacks of internalized racism—that somehow our relatives that made the baskets, masks, fish traps, or house posts are "less" than artists that work in Western genres. We have our own genres of art; we don't need some 18th–century European to tell us what's important and what isn't.<br />
<br />
The word I would like to share with you is "<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[94].[1][4][1]{comment469977119717538_469995396382377}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span id=".reactRoot[94].[1][4][1]{comment469977119717538_469995396382377}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[94].[1][4][1]{comment469977119717538_469995396382377}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[0]">ᏚᏳᎪᏛ duyugotv." I asked Ryan Mackey about the concept of the "harmony ethnic," and he did imply that that anthropological term was inadequate. Superficially the word "</span></span></span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[94].[1][4][1]{comment469977119717538_469995396382377}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span id=".reactRoot[94].[1][4][1]{comment469977119717538_469995396382377}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[94].[1][4][1]{comment469977119717538_469995396382377}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[0]">ᏚᏳᎪᏛ duyugotv" means in English "justice" or "truth," but more specifically "</span></span></span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[94].[1][4][1]{comment469977119717538_470002299715020}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span id=".reactRoot[94].[1][4][1]{comment469977119717538_470002299715020}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[94].[1][4][1]{comment469977119717538_470002299715020}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[0]">equity with gentle correction." My father said "balance" is a mathematical concept and is inappropriate to express human relations; so "harmony" is more resonate for the complex relationship between art, individuals, and society. </span></span></span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[94].[1][4][1]{comment469977119717538_469995396382377}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span id=".reactRoot[94].[1][4][1]{comment469977119717538_469995396382377}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[94].[1][4][1]{comment469977119717538_469995396382377}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[0]">"</span></span></span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[94].[1][4][1]{comment469977119717538_469995396382377}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span id=".reactRoot[94].[1][4][1]{comment469977119717538_469995396382377}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[94].[1][4][1]{comment469977119717538_469995396382377}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[0]">ᏚᏳᎪᏛ duyugotv" conveys the more subtle nuances of a community working together.</span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[94].[1][4][1]{comment469977119717538_470002299715020}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span id=".reactRoot[94].[1][4][1]{comment469977119717538_470002299715020}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[94].[1][4][1]{comment469977119717538_470002299715020}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[0]"><br /></span></span></span>
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[94].[1][4][1]{comment469977119717538_470002299715020}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span id=".reactRoot[94].[1][4][1]{comment469977119717538_470002299715020}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[94].[1][4][1]{comment469977119717538_470002299715020}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[0]">Several times I've observed conversations about terminology for Indigenous art revolve around the inadequacies of English for expressing concepts near and dear to our hearts; however, once a term in a specific Indigenous language is proposed, the conversation stops. We're tribal people, so I understand that we feel uncomfortable crossing tribal boundaries. However, I think we can span these boundaries to grasp concepts that we can all relate to. The Diné term "</span></span></span><span class="searchmatch">Hózhǫ́</span>" is absolutely a powerful, relevant concept that we all study. I would like to propose that the Kalaallisut term "Eqqumiitsuliorneq" is also very compelling. It means "art" but more specifically it means "to create something strange," which harnesses the power of the uncanny to throw us out of our usual mindset and reassess the world around us in a fresh new way.<br />
<br />
Why should we only embrace the words of our colonizers? We have much to teach each other. ahaleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333619966846366243noreply@blogger.com2Americas54.5259614 -105.25511870000003-23.4352176 89.510506299999975 90 59.979256299999975tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051438850730284823.post-68486634952177595972013-01-14T20:04:00.000-07:002015-09-12T23:27:30.212-06:00Coming Soon: First American Art Magazine<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_0TBm_5OrFfW7XTjGNcHoc-9dkPFiP-nK7AOhIPCuf8IH93XxX3kk1349I14eFzO0sZ0LvJR0aNz8PJ872ZlSIlaWw6r8pAl_bmDY0WX9RRErbeVek6MDneGZe5ZJZaP9D1XMBfbUPHc/s1600/live_paint_2010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_0TBm_5OrFfW7XTjGNcHoc-9dkPFiP-nK7AOhIPCuf8IH93XxX3kk1349I14eFzO0sZ0LvJR0aNz8PJ872ZlSIlaWw6r8pAl_bmDY0WX9RRErbeVek6MDneGZe5ZJZaP9D1XMBfbUPHc/s1600/live_paint_2010.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Live paint at Standing Buffalo Gallery, Norman, OK</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Exciting, vibrant art is being created by Indigenous peoples throughout the Americas. Native peoples are curating shows and writing new art books. More tribes are opening up their own cultural centers and museums. So how does someone keep up with these changing and developments in the Native American art world?<br />
<br />
Introducing <i>First American Art Magazine</i>, a publication dedicated to covering the art of Indigenous peoples of the Americas—north and south. America Meredith (Cherokee Nation), a working artist, edits this magazine due of the clear need for critical, in-depth analysis of Indigenous American art, written in a way that is accessible to the general public—to both Native and non-Native communities.<br />
<br />
<i>FAAM</i> will profile artists, both established and emerging. The magazine will feature art show and art book reviews by Indigenous writers. Features will cover current issues in Native artists, new discoveries in Indigenous art history, and profiles of Native arts communities—rural and urban. We’ll also showcase graphic arts, literature, news, and editorials.<br />
<br />
Our introductory issue #0 will be published in the Spring in print and online. Issue #1 will come out this August. Our website, <b><a href="http://www.firstamericanartmagazine.com/">www.firstamericanartmagazine.com</a></b>, is up and has a calendar of events and calls for entries. Our blog, at <b><a href="http://firstamericanart.blogspot.com/">firstamericanart.blogspot.com</a></b> will share news, opinions, and art profiles. Through print and the web, <i>First American Art Magazine</i> will connect different communities—bridging the gap between academia and the general public and Native and non-Native art worlds. We will provide a platform for honest, open dialogue and in-depth analysis. <i>FAAM</i> will discuss the human condition through the lens of Indigenous art.ahaleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333619966846366243noreply@blogger.com0Santa Fe, NM, USA35.6869752 -105.9377989999999835.4806117 -106.26052249999998 35.8933387 -105.61507549999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051438850730284823.post-5183566176301156952013-01-06T20:57:00.003-07:002013-01-06T21:36:16.044-07:00Solar Map Project | Paraguayan Petroglyphs<span id="goog_1117316837"></span><span id="goog_1117316838"></span>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/89765957@N04/8162946358/" title="Petroglyphs by SolarMapProject"><img align="right" alt="Inscriptions" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8349/8162946358_7cd83ef4e2.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a>
Happy 2013! I've been much occupied elsewhere and have neglected this blog in recent months, but just discovered a brilliant project. The Solar Map Project is documenting petroglyphs in the <span class="st">Amambay hills of Paraguay and will produce a 30-minute documentary about them.</span><br />
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<span class="st">Carved into natural rock shelters, these ancient petroglyphs are founds throughout the jungles where Paraguay borders Brazil. They are not well known, even within Paraguay, and survived for so long because of the remoteness of the region; however, logging and large-scale agriculture in growing rapidly in the Amambay Department. Deforesting exposes the petroglyphs to the elements and vandalism is on the rise.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="st">Frank Weaver is the driving force of the Solar Map Project. He was born in </span><span class="st">Pedro Juan Caballero, Paraguay and currently lives in Florida. He's passionate about environmental and social justice, particularly for the indigenous peoples of eastern Paraguay. In the 1980s, Weaver's father and grandmother founded the one of the first environmental NGOs in Paraguay. A camera was donated to the NGO, and eight-year-old Weaver became the organization's cameraman. He has visited the petroglyph sites with </span><span class="st">Paï-Tavytera people since he was a child </span><span class="st">(Solar Map Project).</span><br />
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<span class="st">In addition to the documentary, the Solar Map Project is photographing the petroglyphs and interviewing </span><span class="st">Paï-Tavytera people about their oral history. In discussing petroglyphs with different anthropologists, Weaver noticed they did share their information much with the public. To bring global awareness to the dangers facing the petroglyphs and the </span><span class="st">Paï-Tavytera, Weaver has been releasing his photography to the public through Creative Commons (Solar Map Project).</span><br />
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<span class="st">For </span><span class="st">the Paï-Tavytera</span><span class="st"> people the Amambay hills are where "God Created the Universe" (Weaver). Members of the Guaraní people, </span>Paï-Tavytera live in eastern Paraguay and southwestern Brazil. The Paraguayan Paï-Tavytera resisted assimilation, enslavement, and forced conversation by Jesuit missionaries in the 19th century. They have been able to maintain their traditional hunting and farming lifestyle, although this is increasingly difficult with the current settlement and deforestation of their lands (<span class="st">Flowers</span>). Popular arts include featherwork and body painting. Basketry is commonly made by men and ceramics by women (Flowers<span class="st">).</span><br />
<br />
<h4>
<span class="st">Works Cited</span></h4>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span class="st">Flowers, Nancy M. "<a href="http://www.everyculture.com/South-America/Pa-Tavytera.html">Paï-Tavytera</a>." <i>Countries and Their Cultures</i>.</span></li>
<li><span class="st">Weaver, Frank. "<a href="http://www.goodkarmaforall.org/2012/10/solar-map-project-frank-weaver.html">Solar Map Project Frank Weaver</a>." <i>Good Karma for All</i>. </span></li>
<li><span class="st">"<a href="http://www.solarmapproject.com/frank-weaver/">Frank Weaver</a>." <i>Solar Map Project</i>.</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<h4>
<span class="st">Links</span></h4>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span class="st"><a href="http://www.solarmapproject.com/">Solar Map Project</a>, official website</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span class="st"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/89765957@N04/">Solar Map Project's photosteam</a>, Flickr </span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span class="st"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/AncientRockArt">Solar Map Project</a>, Facebook page</span></li>
</ul>
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo taken by the Solar Map Project, in Pedro Juan Caballero, Amambay, PY.</span></i>ahaleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333619966846366243noreply@blogger.com1Amambay Department, Paraguay-22.5590272 -56.024998200000027-24.430350699999998 -58.606785200000026 -20.6877037 -53.443211200000029tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051438850730284823.post-11748835352328241722012-11-07T12:12:00.003-07:002012-11-07T12:12:53.554-07:00Native Arts Publication SurveyIf you have a few seconds, please take a <a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/52SY9GF"><b>brief online survey</b></a> about Native art publications. I'm collecting information about what people would like and would not like to see in Native art writing. Feel free to forward the survey link: <span class="userContent"><a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/52SY9GF" rel="nofollow nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/52SY9GF</a> to any one you think might be interested. </span>Thanks!ahaleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333619966846366243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051438850730284823.post-19442937717308898612012-10-25T09:40:00.000-06:002013-04-26T11:09:27.888-06:00Inner Demons IV<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG5nv5yxwjgSIHmaa8CgAbg_KAebLOXxxJ1BgfzUTypMuwbh0lNV8vg3-cF9HjxxFE3EF0chGnIVFNgBEwjd0NNGLo90bI17MCcXAPdApPQ7WnYt_Bo4L4G3Zz7mfxem5uBMi_DVftRcg/s1600/id4_fb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG5nv5yxwjgSIHmaa8CgAbg_KAebLOXxxJ1BgfzUTypMuwbh0lNV8vg3-cF9HjxxFE3EF0chGnIVFNgBEwjd0NNGLo90bI17MCcXAPdApPQ7WnYt_Bo4L4G3Zz7mfxem5uBMi_DVftRcg/s400/id4_fb.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
The fourth annual <i>Inner Demons</i> group art show <span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl">showcasing the dark, disturbed, and
simply wrong. The</span></span> opening reception is Friday, October 26th, 6:00–9:00pm at Ahalenia Studios, 2889 Trades West, Unit E, Santa Fe.<br />
<span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl"></span></span><br />
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<span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl"><span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl">The show will be open:</span></span><br />
<span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl">• Saturday, Oct. 27 and Sunday, Oct. 28, 2-6pm</span></span><br />
<span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl">• Saturday, Nov. 3 and Sunday, Nov. 4, 2-6pm</span></span><br />
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</div>
<div class="text_exposed_show">
<span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl"> From Monday, Oct. 30 through Friday, Nov. 2, open by appointment. <a href="mailto:ahalenia@yahoo.com"><b>Email</b></a> to make an appointment. All events are free and open to the public.</span></span><br />
<span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl"><br /></span></span>
<span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl">Street parking only!!</span></span><br />
<span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl"><br /></span></span>
<span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl">Participating artists include:</span></span><br />
<span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl"><span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl"><span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl"><span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl"><span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl"><span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgws2XBLvHnfNu4-XhaibsIrQwmwA9xeoxWahV_UoJZRGpfqU01Ip6W1B2LlaW-mIBOdv_JWlS1gk-u5rsSBloSO2irXnoaVoRiGCFs8OHqSMBJrJfnqzZbGYtGwOxcq52VrvT_CLnYl94/s1600/581475_3267051095595_692554335_n.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgws2XBLvHnfNu4-XhaibsIrQwmwA9xeoxWahV_UoJZRGpfqU01Ip6W1B2LlaW-mIBOdv_JWlS1gk-u5rsSBloSO2irXnoaVoRiGCFs8OHqSMBJrJfnqzZbGYtGwOxcq52VrvT_CLnYl94/s320/581475_3267051095595_692554335_n.jpg" width="252" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Jealousy</i>, Sharon Vargas, mixed media on Plexiglas</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>• Bryon Archuleta (Ohkay Owingeh)</span></span><br />
<span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl">• Jamison Chas Banks (Seneca-Cayuga-Cherokee)</span></span><br />
<span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl">• Shaun Beyale (Navajo)</span></span><br />
<span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl">• Jason Reed Brown (Koyukon Athabascan)</span></span><br />
<span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl">• Miguel Cera (Spanish-American)</span></span><br />
<span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl">• Melissa Dominguez (Spanish-American)</span></span><br />
<span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl">• Lara Evans (Cherokee Nation)</span></span><br />
<span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl">• J. Luna Gaudi (Spanish-American)</span></span><br />
<span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl">• Sam Haozous (Chiricahua Apache-Navajo)</span></span><br />
<span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl"> • Topaz Jones (Shoshone-Lummi-Kalapuya-M<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>olalla)</span></span><br />
<span itemprop="description"><span class="fsl">• Russ McCabe (Scottish-American)</span></span><br />
• Daniel McCoy, Jr. (Potawatomi-Muscogee Creek-Seminole)<br />
• Melissa Melero (Fallon Paiute-Modoc-Taino)<br />
• America Meredith (Cherokee Nation)<br />
• Laura Paschall (Cherokee Nation)<br />
• Tammy Rahr (Cayuga Nation)<br />
• Felicia Rodriguez (Spanish-American)<br />
• Joseph Sanchez (Mestizo)<br />
• Jacqueline Smith (Navajo)<br />
• Neebinnaukzhik Southall (Ojibwe)<br />
• Sharon Vargas (Spanish-American)<br />
<br />
Show website: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ahalenia.com%2Fdemons&h=lAQEVNvT6&s=1" rel="nofollow nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.ahalenia.com/<wbr></wbr>demons</a>.</div>
</div>
ahaleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333619966846366243noreply@blogger.com4Santa Fe, NM, USA35.6869752 -105.93779935.583801199999996 -106.0957275 35.7901492 -105.7798705tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051438850730284823.post-22590352894566897732012-09-30T23:35:00.000-06:002016-12-09T16:19:54.868-07:00Cultivating Vocabulary: An Ongoing Process<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhs6wkUECQGtrr1qyZohIxJtw_H86BRej88oso7IsYjMwpcNoNPBc8oQGVdLLGWsjXRfto-jIePPcChxhBvdkqR9PC4Z5t1StwCVywIMmER3jyYnJlxJ0dCqTE14nQHJsL33nq3vd9-ww/s1600/ah_tz'ib.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhs6wkUECQGtrr1qyZohIxJtw_H86BRej88oso7IsYjMwpcNoNPBc8oQGVdLLGWsjXRfto-jIePPcChxhBvdkqR9PC4Z5t1StwCVywIMmER3jyYnJlxJ0dCqTE14nQHJsL33nq3vd9-ww/s320/ah_tz'ib.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Ah Tz'ib</i>, a Mayan word referring to painters and writers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While it’s clear that we need new vocabulary to discuss Indigenous
art; the effort to find new words seems to be stymied. One problem is, especially here in the southwest, there’s an incredible
volume of writing about Native art, but it’s dominated by the language of
marketing and hyperbole and seldom written by people with both a
background in arts and Native cultures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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The first obvious challenge is that much of the dialogue takes
place in the English language, whose grammar is hardwired for antonyms, that is
binary opposites, such as <i>black/white</i>, <i>hot/cold</i>, or <i>right/wrong</i>. In the
language, these opposites seem clear cut and logical. However, in reality,
couldn’t transparent be the opposite of black or morally relative between the
opposite of both right and wrong? The pairing of concepts as binary opposites
is rife with unspoken assumptions that steer the ensuing dialogue in a
predetermined direction. That’s why I have tried in the past to write about the futility of
any discussion positioning <i>traditional</i> in opposition to <i>contemporary</i> or <i>craft</i> against <i>fine art</i>. The racism at the core of these pairings is
inexcusable—the notion that tribally specific art or art informed by tribal
values is <i>old</i> fading away before the Western-sanctioned <i>new</i> or that artists
using non-Western forms have no content or message to convey but are only
repeating decorative utilitarian forms.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<i>Traditional</i> is not a bad word at all, but everyone has her
or his own definition of it. As Scott Ennis (Cherokee Nation) once said, “Tradition is like
cornbread; everyone has their own recipe, but it’s still cornbread.” Personally, I view <i>traditional</i> as being
ceremonially involved in one’s tribe, speaking one’s language, reflecting and
living one’s tribal worldview, which is all completely positive and something
to aspire to. Locally, some Pueblo people see traditional art as following procedures
and artistic prescribed collectively for a reason. Whether <i>tradition</i>
describes what’s in a person’s heart or in techniques and aesthetics (or both), it’s a
term grounded in an Indigenous community. If an artist is creating video art of
their tribal members using their own language, wouldn’t that be traditional?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A place to reject the word <i>traditional</i> is how it is used
in marketing transitional Native art forms. A great deal stays the same in the
Native art world because vast quantities of money is invested in keeping
things the same. Because certain art forms were marketed in a certain way in
the early 20th century, other dealers want to keep artists in their ascribed
categories. For instance, the notion that overlay silver working technique is
Hopi. The overlay style was developed and promoted by Hopi artists such as Fred Kabotie and Paul
Saufkie for veterans returning from World War II (Byrne <i>et al.</i> 191–192). The
fact that people initially resisted Charles Loloma’s use of gold in jewelry
boggles my mind, when Hopi jewelers only adopted silverwork in the late 19th
century. That’s on par with Oscar Howe’s 1958 rejection from the Philbrook
since he didn’t paint Flatstyle, which was developed in the 1910s to 1930s.
That drive, usually by non-Natives, to freeze art in time should has nothing to with the Indigenous perspective of <i>tradition</i> and should be actively resisted.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From a modernist Western perspective, integration within one's community hasn’t
necessarily been the ideal in art; individual self-expression has been celebrated—even fetishized in the
romantic vision of a lone genius struggling in a studio. The primacy of
community versus the individual could be a potential fault line between Native
and non-Native art; however, I believe the best of post-modern Western art is
in the process of evolving back toward the community in the arts. Especially since so
many historical art stars have had innumerable people working with them to
fabricate their art.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And historically, “innovation” has been celebrated in
Western art over “tradition”, in the sense of recreating pre-existing forms or
designs; however, it’s easy to argue that there’s nothing new under the sun and
a great deal of “innovation” is just appropriation. Appropriation, or the reuse
or reference of early artworks, is the earmark of the contemporary art world.
An excellent example of this is the work of Sherrie Levine, who in the late
1970s and throughout the 1980s, photographed or recreated famous pieces of art, shifting their context. In 1982, Levin rephotographed the Great
Depression-era social realist photographs of Walker Evans (Owens 114). How do
the artworks change, now they are by a woman in the 1980s instead of a man in
the 1930s? I would argue that there also incredibly potent conceptual
possibilities behind a 2010s Odawa basket weaver weaving a black ash basket —
how has the environment shifted, how do pesticides and invasive species come
into play, what range of technologies are employed, how has societies’
perception of basketry shifted and changed, what actions is the basket weaver
performing that have no English words but can be described in the Odawa
language?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Appropriation with a complete disregard for the earlier
work's cultural context or meaning would be misappropriation — or a banal or
commercial use of sacred imagery. That could be another point of departure
between Western and Native art since the brunt of Western art is forcefully
secular. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Derivative” doesn’t get used much in Native art but it
should, since it implies a copying that doesn’t renew or add to meaning but
rather produces a weaker copy, akin to cloning plants. An artist who copies but
doesn’t acknowledge the source would be derivative, and an artist using symbols
without understanding or at least striving to understand their meanings might
also be described this way.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Obviously, these are just stray thoughts on an ongoing major
discussion, but I have observed that discourse improves when more precise terms are substituted
for worn out, catchall terms. What the hell is authenticity? Why not discuss
honesty? Is an artwork traditional or is it historical, tribally specific,
customary, or using non-Western media? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
While it can be a challenge to make the leap from English to
tribal languages, the wisdom is stored within the languages. I just learned an
amazing word, <span class="st"><i>Eqqumiitsuliorneq</i>, which is the Greenland Inuit
word for art and more literately translates to mean “odds products, something
artificial” (Arke 5).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Cherokee
word for art, </span><span class="st"><span style="font-family: "munch chancery cherokee"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Munch Chancery Cherokee";">ᏗᏟᎶᏍᏙᏗ</span></span><span class="st"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Munch Chancery Cherokee";"> or <i>ditlilosdodi</i>, refers
to making an imitation of reality. The Muscogee Creek word for art is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">nakvkakv</i> and their word for <i>artist</i> is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">nakvjayv</i> (Martin and Mauldin 193). A Minnesota Ojibwe word for
<i>artist</i> is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mazinibii’igewinini </i>(Nichols
and Nyholm 80). The Mayan word <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">uj uxul</i>
literately means “he of the burnishing/scratching” and is also the title of the
royal sculptor (Montgomery).</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="st"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Munch Chancery Cherokee";">Not
every tribe has a word for “art,” as we are so often informed, but related
words are also potent. The Navajo
word, </span></span><i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">hózhó</span></i><i><span style="font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">, has had a widespread impact on art discussion.
Extrapolating from Harry Walters’ definition, author Mary Lawlor writes, “The
sense of beauty invoked in the term is clearly not synonymous with Western
concepts that emphasize an exclusively visual appeal based on limited aesthetic
criteria. Hózhó implies harmony as well as ethical and moral strength, which
derived from a fluent relationship between the one who is hózhó and other
beings in a social or spiritual environment” (Lawlor 68). </span></i><br />
<br />
I’m extremely curious to hear other people’s “forbidden
words” they would like stricken from Native art discourse and to hear more Indigenous words for art.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-7cvkLshe_ynKaU3MJAUQYMlfCY_HE45aqVElvwlLPp6lmdNHjwTBbFFMP5DtHJBwgniXHvJi_y084jPPs_nYM0xJOHl-BkaGPYiv9PJdqXIT3NMVTcXILF-2kiMSBPCmZ8rBBIVNkiY/s1600/lane_stitch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-7cvkLshe_ynKaU3MJAUQYMlfCY_HE45aqVElvwlLPp6lmdNHjwTBbFFMP5DtHJBwgniXHvJi_y084jPPs_nYM0xJOHl-BkaGPYiv9PJdqXIT3NMVTcXILF-2kiMSBPCmZ8rBBIVNkiY/s1600/lane_stitch.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lane stitch on Arapaho moccasin, 1880s</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>Addendum</i>: An example of improving terminology is using the term "lane stitch" for the technique of sewing parallel lines of beadwork with single stitches at each end. This stitch was once known as "lazy squaw stitch," an utterly insulting term, then it became known as "lazy stitch." For anyone who's tried their hand at beadwork, there's nothing "lazy" about it. The current term, "lane stitch" is both neutral and actually describes the nature of the stitch.</div>
<ul>
<li>Arke, Pia. “Act 5: Ethno-Aesthetics.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Re-Thinking Nordic Colonialism. </i>2006. Web.</li>
<li>Lawlor, Mary. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Public
Native America: Tribal Self-Representations in Museums, Powwows, and Casinos.</i>
New Brunswick, NJ:<span style="font-family: "arial";"> </span>Rutgers University
Press, 2006. Web.</li>
<li>Martin, Jack B. and Margaret McKane Mauldin. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Dictionary of Creek/Muskogee</i>. Lincoln:
University of Nebraska Press, 2004. Print.</li>
<li>Montgomery, John. “<a href="http://research.famsi.org/montgomery_dictionary/mt_entry.php?id=1242&lsearch=a&search=">AJ u-xu-[lu].</a>”<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Dictionary of Maya
Hieroglyphs</i>. Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies. </li>
<li><span class="addmd">Nichols, John D. and Earl Nyholm. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe</i>.
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1995. Web.</span></li>
<li><span class="addmd">Owens, Craig. <i>Beyond Recognition: Representation, Power, and Culture.</i> Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994. Web. </span></li>
</ul>
ahaleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333619966846366243noreply@blogger.com10Santa Fe, NM, USA35.6869752 -105.93779935.583801199999996 -106.0957275 35.7901492 -105.7798705tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051438850730284823.post-84483219148807779072012-09-11T12:24:00.002-06:002016-11-12T09:21:20.334-07:00In a Nutshell, Part 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKJweX2YCrvashOnE1o6gJytzAziK4WnmKFEzS0ENgdGQycbU9MBFdxKH6nlQgiJzN31yOp9L7cY5LkduWobQzhrfFVksgca3cnikdmqh63QbaqcP63DXnZIvZaiWj_uXZuYlnOcHP5A8/s1600/764px-Walnuss_003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKJweX2YCrvashOnE1o6gJytzAziK4WnmKFEzS0ENgdGQycbU9MBFdxKH6nlQgiJzN31yOp9L7cY5LkduWobQzhrfFVksgca3cnikdmqh63QbaqcP63DXnZIvZaiWj_uXZuYlnOcHP5A8/s200/764px-Walnuss_003.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
When someone mentions a supposed dichotomy between "fine arts" and "crafts" in Indigenous American art, I scan for escape routes. That conversation goes nowhere, because the unspoken framework governing those terms is fundamentally at odds with Indigenous art.<br />
<br />
The notion of "art for art's sake," that visual art should have no utilitarian purpose, was proposed by Prussian philosopher Immanuel Kant in his 1790 <i>Critique of Judgement</i> (Fenner 7) and was echoed by many others in the following century. "During this period, 'the fine arts' were those that fit the aestheticist criteria for art for the sake of art and for the sake of nothing else," writes author David E. W. Fenner (7). This Enlightenment era philosophy still echoes among those would haven't studied any art theory in the last century.<br />
<br />
A certain cadre of European and European-American thinkers strove to separate art from the banality of daily life, then subsequently, others have spent the last hundred years attempting to re-integrate art into people's lives. The Arts and Craft moment, John Dewey's book<i> Art as Experience</i> (1934), happenings of the 1960s, Thomas Crow's <i>Modern Art in the Common Culture</i> (1998), public art, street art, relational art, community art, etc.<br />
<br />
My tribe never signed up to follow Kant or separate our art from our the rest of our lives. Aesthetics and content are interwoven in our artistic creations, ranging from installation to gig-making to basketry to digital art to featherwork.<br />
<br />
Martin A. Berger sums up the situation with rare lucidity: "...trac[ing] our modern conception of art back to the eighteenth-century separation of the fine arts from crafts, of artists from artisans, and of aesthetic pleasure from entertainment. These divisions broke a two-thousand-year-old Western convention that art was <i>any</i> activity practiced with skill and grace. In the modern West, art came to be defined by the product created, the person making it, and the experience it generated in audiences rather than the quality of what was fashioned. [Larry] Shiner notes how this new definition of art helped consolidate relations of power: 'To elevate some genres to the spiritual status of fine art and their producers to heroic creators while relegating other genres to the status of mere utility and their producers to fabricators is more than a conceptual transformation.' He points out that 'the genres and activities chosen for elevation and those chosen for demotion reinforce race, class, and gender lines.'" (Berger 99–100).<br />
<br />
Berger continues, "Since cultures outside of the West had never divorced aesthetics from utility, it was easy for European-Americans to devalue even visually alluring objects nonwhite peoples produced, given that such object always served a practical function" (Berger 100).<br />
<ul>
<li>Berger, Martin A. <i>A Sight Unseen: Whiteness and American Visual Culture.</i> Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005.</li>
<li>Fenner, David E. W. <i>Art in Context: Understanding Aesthetic Value</i>. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2008.</li>
</ul>
ahaleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333619966846366243noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051438850730284823.post-8210787289063188002012-09-05T12:25:00.000-06:002012-09-05T12:27:36.207-06:00Cherokee Stories of the Turtle Island Liars' Club<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz7x7DiaiG8vylvh2pGNiuXH9Xl3UYdkuXCZTtwhBqDevQTnj2HBNBrAU3aY2lkEY73FWlHWeBbR93xl5GmEyjeFSF2nROsMkbhwV1QwIMSRkfKXtYteBASriKYfoBTP5V27ixUwDJyWY/s1600/tilc_cover_web.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz7x7DiaiG8vylvh2pGNiuXH9Xl3UYdkuXCZTtwhBqDevQTnj2HBNBrAU3aY2lkEY73FWlHWeBbR93xl5GmEyjeFSF2nROsMkbhwV1QwIMSRkfKXtYteBASriKYfoBTP5V27ixUwDJyWY/s400/tilc_cover_web.jpg" width="271" /></a>ᎦᎵᎡᎵᎦ! <i>Cherokee Stories of the Turtle Island Liars' Club</i> has just been published by the University of North Carolina Press. The result of years of collaboration between Christopher B. Teuton, a Cherokee author, literary critic, and associate professor, and the Turtle Island Liars' Club, a storytelling group from northeastern Oklahoma featuring Woody Hansen, Sequoyah Guess, Sammy Sill, and the late Hastings Shade, former Deputy Chief of the Cherokee Nation and Cherokee National Treasures. The storytelling group includes citizens of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians and the Cherokee Nation, both of Oklahoma, and they maintain close ties with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, located in North Carolina.<br />
<br />
Dr. Teuton (Cherokee Nation) is currently part of the University of North Carolina's Department of American Studies and specializes in American Indian literature. He has dedicated years to recording stories of the Liars' Club and interviewing the members of the group. Through a yearlong residency at the School of Advanced Research in Santa Fe, Teuton was able to edit and develop the text for the book. From the SAR website, "there is no precise word in Cherokee for <i>storytelling.</i> In a language full of puns, the term used instead is <i>gagoga,</i> the word for <i>lying</i>—which brings us to the Turtle Island Liars’ Club." <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFJfOhQgBGrhfAcH_DRrE2gtmQhK74A6P0_nmXv5wdNN_j6OUIUmdfV8t6VVfz4H1dFUPUXNAXhz3rULoqCg_-VwD7SjtiJRy3N4HMwGxW8klVFhbogY9lSTfd2rjHgX3hH4kRBRh7p3c/s1600/waterspider_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFJfOhQgBGrhfAcH_DRrE2gtmQhK74A6P0_nmXv5wdNN_j6OUIUmdfV8t6VVfz4H1dFUPUXNAXhz3rULoqCg_-VwD7SjtiJRy3N4HMwGxW8klVFhbogY9lSTfd2rjHgX3hH4kRBRh7p3c/s320/waterspider_web.jpg" width="268" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Water Spider Steals Fire</i>, America Meredith</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>Cherokee Stories of the Turtle Island Liars' Club</i> is the first collection of Western Cherokee oral history to be published in almost 40 years, when Jack and Anna Kilpatrick wrote their beloved work, <i>Friends of Thunder: Folktales of the Oklahoma Cherokees</i>. Teuton's new book reveals how Cherokee storytelling continues to evolve to reflect current events, while maintaining an unbroken to Cherokee prehistory. Forty stories are interwoven with biographical information about the four storytellers. The Cherokee language, both transliterated and in Sequoyah's syllabary, is used freely through the book. I had the distinct honor of illustrating the book, which tested my ability to visualize ancient Cherokees and their animal friends.<br />
<br />
Cherokee author Daniel Heath Justice writes, "This will be a deeply treasured book for Cherokee individuals,
families, and communities, as it shows beyond any doubt how rich,
complex, and beautiful Cherokee oral and literary expressions continue
to be in this chaotic world. It is easily one of the most important
books on Cherokee worldview and tradition ever written."<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Funcpress.unc.edu%2Fbooks%2F10210.html&ei=XJdHUNXyBM7ciQLk5oGoAg&usg=AFQjCNF-ZhIJApSX7rhxLx8iavnMB_h7Gw&sig2=JEZAlqbdQBW7tgTpnOnqRg"><i>Cherokee Stories of the Turtle Island Liars' Club</i>, University of North Carolina Press</a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://sarweb.org/index.php?resident_scholar_christopher_b_teuton">Christopher B. Teuton, School of Advanced Research</a>.</li>
</ul>
ahaleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333619966846366243noreply@blogger.com3Chapel Hill, NC, USA35.9131996 -79.055844535.8618131 -79.1348085 35.9645861 -78.976880500000007tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051438850730284823.post-36402358435579853142012-08-21T15:59:00.002-06:002012-08-21T16:01:18.237-06:00Art Exhibitions and the Cultural Landscape - Santa Fe Community College<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyyYvcJDNnqY6cxn6NoQUhOrLr6PV5w5VSE54DimeYQd1BPZfZnnzDX0kK7HScazbcC59ktmYyqbHqKr11Ox-OnQrBCqWANk2l0nBsIY04CMvl-SPKBZILb7V2-YKPbxn0qG1LPkTfD3s/s1600/sfcc_logo.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyyYvcJDNnqY6cxn6NoQUhOrLr6PV5w5VSE54DimeYQd1BPZfZnnzDX0kK7HScazbcC59ktmYyqbHqKr11Ox-OnQrBCqWANk2l0nBsIY04CMvl-SPKBZILb7V2-YKPbxn0qG1LPkTfD3s/s1600/sfcc_logo.png" /></a>Last week a golden opportunity came my way — teaching ARTS 165, "Art Exhibitions and the Cultural Landscape," at Santa Fe Community College. The 3-credit course will meet Wednesday, 9-11:30 am, beginning tomorrow, August 22nd; however, it's not too late to enroll! You can audit the class as well, without having to order transcripts. The class meets on SFCC's main campus in room 711.<br />
<br />
This course will examine the social, cultural, and political complexities of art and exhibitions. We'll focus on the many cultural in the New Mexican art scene, especially Native American American and Latino, but will also look at cross-cultural communication, urban and rural art, and exhibiting internationally. Guest speakers will discuss cultural sensitivity, repatriation, their own experiences navigating their curatorial practices and finding a space for their artistic expressions in the larger art world. Besides museums and commercial gallery spaces, we will look at alternative art spaces and experimental exhibitions.<br />
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This course is a component in the SFCC Gallery Management degree program and transfers to IAIA. For more information, call (505) 428-1501. For registration information, go <a href="http://www.sfcc.edu/registration/first_time_students"><b>here</b></a>.ahaleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333619966846366243noreply@blogger.com0Santa Fe Community College, 6401 S Richards Ave, Santa Fe, NM 87508, USA35.6053248 -105.997955435.598869799999996 -106.0078259 35.6117798 -105.98808489999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051438850730284823.post-34404035470635774422012-08-16T10:04:00.001-06:002012-09-02T17:08:56.750-06:00Low-Rez: Native American Lowbrow Art<style>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeoiRta1E7vOP50e5imTZ8keGPC7AUcZbRxCM2qVHKm4oZ95BMf5Gn_s3WohsNDhrWDtj2TUcjiPrKRioGTNQi2Uv03SGX_bKLqHPxKMojZSP7ZoK_1bhROHiyky0OWK2dMGkKYmXp6LE/s1600/nchacon1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"></a><br /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}">
<span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent">l </span></span></h6>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeoiRta1E7vOP50e5imTZ8keGPC7AUcZbRxCM2qVHKm4oZ95BMf5Gn_s3WohsNDhrWDtj2TUcjiPrKRioGTNQi2Uv03SGX_bKLqHPxKMojZSP7ZoK_1bhROHiyky0OWK2dMGkKYmXp6LE/s1600/nchacon1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeoiRta1E7vOP50e5imTZ8keGPC7AUcZbRxCM2qVHKm4oZ95BMf5Gn_s3WohsNDhrWDtj2TUcjiPrKRioGTNQi2Uv03SGX_bKLqHPxKMojZSP7ZoK_1bhROHiyky0OWK2dMGkKYmXp6LE/s320/nchacon1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}">
<span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent">"Reclamation: Manifestations of Changing Woman," Nani Chacon, oil on masonite </span></span></h6>
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Santa Fe, NM — <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Low-Rez: Native American Lowbrow Art </i></b>is
a group art show of emerging and established Native artists working in the
“lowbrow” genre of Pop Surrealism. The show runs from August 17 to September 1,
2012, and opens with a reception on Friday, August 17, 5:30 – 9:00 pm at 131 West San Francisco
Street, First Floor near the downtown
Santa Fe Plaza. A closing reception will be held on Saturday, September 1st,
from 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm. Both events are free and open to the public.</div>
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Participating artists include: Jamison Chas Banks
(Seneca-Cayuga-Cherokee), Nanibah “Nani” Chacon (Navajo), <span class="gi">Brent
Greenwood (Ponca-Chickasaw), Amber Gunn Gauthier (</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Ho-Chunk–Menominee),</span>
April Holder (Sac and Fox-Wichita-Tonkawa), Topaz Jones
(Shoshone-Lummi-Kalapuya-Molalla), <span class="gi">Randy Kemp (Choctaw-Yuchi),</span>
<span class="gi">Linda Lomahaftewa (Hopi-Choctaw), Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan-Hidatsa-Arikara),
Daniel McCoy, Jr. (Potawatomi-Muscogee Creek),</span> <span class="gi">America Meredith
(Cherokee Nation), </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Chris Pappan (</span><span class="st">Osage-Kaw-Cheyenne
River Sioux)</span><span class="gi">, Jeremy Singer (Navajo), Monty Singer
(Navajo), Ryan Singer (Navajo), Hoka Skenandore (Luiseño-Oneida-Oglala Lakota),
“The Werewulf” Micah Wesley (Kiowa-Muscogee Creek), and Debra Yepa-Pappan
(Jemez-Korean). The show will also feature a mural by Jamison Chas Banks and
Keith Secola (Northern Ute), both recent IAIA graduates.</span></div>
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Coming from diverse backgrounds and experiences, these
artists are united in their use of pop cultural imagery to express themselves
as contemporary indigenous peoples. Most of the artists attended the Institute
of American Indian Arts, a school dedicated to Native artists choosing their
own path in self-representation, and most are participating in SWAIA’s Indian
Market.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ZWpJZLQZe7iZ0eINYtWEO90UMJUgutvWoYmMrpRhIKtA90Ihyxsr70vQDTtu3C8fS_ptYLtdW_bERsTWpmEH9vE7GiIEPHg3KJRE5V9syYcJEgmQOKkCdfZNK-Qa92RtTx8j_uWAOyA/s1600/rsinger1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ZWpJZLQZe7iZ0eINYtWEO90UMJUgutvWoYmMrpRhIKtA90Ihyxsr70vQDTtu3C8fS_ptYLtdW_bERsTWpmEH9vE7GiIEPHg3KJRE5V9syYcJEgmQOKkCdfZNK-Qa92RtTx8j_uWAOyA/s320/rsinger1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Redemption March</i>, Ryan Singer (Navajo), acrylic, 2012</td></tr>
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Lowbrow Art, also called Pop Surrealism, has mushroomed over
the last few decades, as a response to overblown bombastic excesses of
conceptual art and a return to a love of craft and technique in art making.
Santa Fe has been an epicenter for the Native Pop movement, in which artists
use pop imagery to explode non-native fantasies of Indians as the timeless
“Noble Savage” and to establish entry points for audiences who might not be
familiar with tribal histories or imagery. The subversive humor of Native Pop
and Lowbrow Art provides a perfect vehicle for social commentary without
becoming preachy or propagandist. </div>
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The pop imagery used by the artists isn’t random. Often it
reflects traditional Native imagery that was co-opted by mass media—Trickster
Rabbit as Bugs Bunny, Princess Leia’s Hopi butterfly whorl hair-do, Taos Pueblo
artist Pop Chalee’s blue deer paintings transformed by Walt Disney into
“Bambi”—acts of re-appropriation. </div>
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Pin-up girls are transformed by the hand of Amber Gunn
Gauthier and Nani Chacon from sex objects for voyeurs to symbols of empowered
women who own their sexuality. Chris Pappan turns traditional ledger art on its
head. Linda Lomahaftewa was part of the initial wave of Native Pop artists and
was a classmate of T. C. Cannon at IAIA. Lomahaftewa lived in the Bay Area in
the 1960s and 1970s and will exhibit monotypes with UFO-imagery. Micah Wesley
and Cannupa Hanska Luger were part of the Humble Collective, an artist-run
space that challenged and inspired waves of artists over the last decade.</div>
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Daniel McCoy combines comic book imagery with imagery from
traditional Muscogee ceremonial grounds of his youth, with wry to dark humor.
McCoy will create a large scale, site-specific installation at the street-level
San Francisco gallery space.</div>
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The art show’s website is at <b><a href="http://www.ahalenia.com/lowrez">www.ahalenia.com/lowrez</a></b>.</div>
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ahaleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333619966846366243noreply@blogger.com0131 W San Francisco St, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA35.6876316 -105.941003835.6860196 -105.9434713 35.689243600000005 -105.93853630000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051438850730284823.post-69777051963670863312012-07-09T13:30:00.003-06:002023-10-05T18:42:48.526-06:00Heather Ahtone Reads Beneath the Surface<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmyCHAoeiIfmemgyudnYp5cBv3reDFe2fIsFgMMxmDvN6OMJrMR_d-VD-kDS7HaOscF1hYjwh-c4DIwcUgq_5EDZhdPLFKKmQrUAjTBvp2wGsnj4nsZZp42Mkgdcex6j95erFwH08qqEw/s1600/Feddersen7-29-1.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmyCHAoeiIfmemgyudnYp5cBv3reDFe2fIsFgMMxmDvN6OMJrMR_d-VD-kDS7HaOscF1hYjwh-c4DIwcUgq_5EDZhdPLFKKmQrUAjTBvp2wGsnj4nsZZp42Mkgdcex6j95erFwH08qqEw/s400/Feddersen7-29-1.jpg" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Parking Lot</i>, Joe Feddersen (Colville), glass, 2003</td></tr>
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In her 2009 essay, “Designed to Last,” Choctaw-Chickasaw artist, writer, and curator heather ahtone proposed a means of critiquing Indigenous American art based on Indigenous art theory. In her essay “Reading Beneath the Surface: Joe Feddersen’s Parking Lot,” presented at the College Art Association Conference and published earlier this year in <i>Wicazo Sa Review</i>, she puts her ideas into action by critiquing a sculpture by Joe Feddersen using Indigenous methodologies.
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<br />
Her introduction lets us know exactly what's at stake. “Every time an Indigenous artist creates an object that reflects concepts rooted within her culture this same artists is perpetuating the culture one more day as an act of self-determination,” Ahtone writes at the opening of the essay. She continues, “While every effort of political and religious assault has been made historically to subdue these same cultures, their survival can be partially attributed to the continued production of visual and performance arts” (Ahtone 73).
<br />
<br />
Ahtone writes that Indigenous epistemology—“ways of knowing”—differs fundamentally from Western ways of knowing (74). While this is relatively obvious to most readers, she further points out that Indigenous learning is not “parallel or perpendicular” (74); that is, Indigenous knowledge is not the Other or opposite of Western knowledge. Indigenous knowledge is not universal but instead must be grounded in local tribal cultures and worldviews. To critique an artwork based on Indigenous values, Ahtone examines materiality, metaphor and symbolism, and cultural reciprocity (74).
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<br />
Joe Feddersen, whose glass sculpture is critiqued here, is Okanagan and an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington State. He earned his MFA at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was a printmaker and basket weaver before moving into glass art. Using textures from Plateau textiles that symbolize aspects of the natural environment, Feddersen creates a dialogue about the shifting environment and the impact of human development in the Columbia Basin (Askren).
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<br />
Collaborating with Tlingit artist Preston Singletary, Feddersen embarked on an <i>Urban Indian</i> series. In 2003, he created <i>Parking Lot</i>, a 14 inch tall blown and sandblasted glass sculpture. The translucent, milky-white surface carries the texture of …, which is overlaid with an olive green rim and structures of perpendicular black lines.
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<br />
Ahtone sees the overall cylindrical form as being reminiscent of a “sally bag,” a flexible basket common throughout the Plateau region (76). The materiality of the piece juxtaposes the implied basket’s soft and pliable surface with the rigidity of glass. Navajo-Wasco artist and author Elizabeth Woody wrote, “Feddersen’s use of glass speaks of our human fragility” and of his choice of the color white, Woody writes “the shell of the basket with the ephemeral density of a cloud” (78).
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<br />
Feddersen’s use of metaphor and symbolism is overt and deliberate. A metaphor directly substitutes on concept or object for another, while a symbol implies something else. The symbol might be a much more simplistic shorthand for the concept it references. The Plateau weaving designs that Feddersen has incorporating into his printmaking, weaving, and glasswork are extremely spare, abstract geometric designs, and yet they are symbolic and inspired by elements seen in daily life, such as snake tracks on the ground (Askren). The textured surface of <i>Parking Lot</i> has four repeating patterns of chevrons etched on its surface. Feddersen explains that the chevrons “are actually the designs for <i>woman</i> in Plateau culture, kind of like an hourglass design, kind of a winding vase” (79). He learned traditional symbolism from Okanagan weavers but an elder pointed out that the meanings of the widespread symbols change from community to communities (79). By using this symbol, Feddersen “invigorates it as a continued part of the cultural dialogue and… contemporizes the language in its usage” (79).
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<br />
Vessels themselves are commonly allegories for women. In the Okanagan worldview, “woman is a living metaphor for the earth” (79). The art audience can automatically juxtapose this view with the European-American view of woman as earth, and therefore, ripe for domination. Dynamical tension is conjured between these two referenced worldviews. Okanagan oral history describes the earth “as a woman ‘who gives birth to life forms’” who was once a human being and is still alive (79-80). The etched basket surface suggested grass, which is seen as the hair of the living female earth (80).
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<br />
Then the black lines on the vessel are diagrams for parking lots, invented in the late 1920s. Ahtone sees these as referencing contemporary migration patterns, which “form the basis of how most Americans relate to the earth—through a mediated system of transit routes…” (80).
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<br />
Cultural reciprocity is the third lens in which Ahtone critiques Indigenous art and is “an act of gratitude by an artist for their culture heritage” (81). Feddersen is keenly aware of place-based culture, and he incorporates landmarks, or “vital signs,” such as electric lines and railroad tracks into his expression of evolving Okanagan culture (81). “By using the traditional signs,” Feddersen says, “we talk about what the meaning is and they become part of our visual vocabulary rather than something that is purely historical” (82).
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<br />
Looking at the artwork from a strict formalist approach, that is, looking only at visual aesthetic qualities of the work—an approach espoused by mid-20th century art critics—would completely miss the content of a work such as <i>Parking Lot</i>. Feddersen deliberately uses contemporary imagery and symbols to bring his cultural traditions into the present. Ahtone’s critique brings the content forward in a manner that could be understood by Native and non-Native readers alike. Personally, I’m well acquainted with the mental wall that some non-Native art audiences reach when viewing Indigenous artwork. Facing the situation of having to understand the cultural contexts of hundreds of different tribes seems overwhelming to fully understand Native art; however, it’s not a matter of getting cultural background to then get the works’ content. The cultural background <i>is</i> much the works’ content, and further understanding the worldview enhances the audience’s understanding of being Human.
<br />
<ul>
<li>heather ahtone, “Reading Beneath the Surface: Joe Feddersen’s Parking Lot,” <i>Wicazo Sa Review</i>, 27, no. 1 (Spring 2012), 73–84.</li>
<li>Mique’l.Askren, “<a href="http://www.iaia.edu/museum/vision-project/artists/joe-feddersen/%20" target="_blank">Joe Feddersen</a>,” IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts: Vision Project<i>.</i> Web. </li>
</ul>ahaleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333619966846366243noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051438850730284823.post-15158738338358328042012-06-27T23:27:00.000-06:002012-09-05T12:30:37.683-06:00Travels to England: Indigenous Brilliance - Messengers - Emissaries of Peace<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh574cJTdgfhtIihFLDL-WvDXfhClEfR2w1_9UGS7C6bXfR-hXaiQF6o6Hr64K-Xh2hhPRJknVwpWTEv5FsrZKyTeuwJMHxUU2j6QQOI_yogVRKZH6pM0iyQvL7a8AIAuMDERHPVeKIQmA/s1600/IMG_6730.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh574cJTdgfhtIihFLDL-WvDXfhClEfR2w1_9UGS7C6bXfR-hXaiQF6o6Hr64K-Xh2hhPRJknVwpWTEv5FsrZKyTeuwJMHxUU2j6QQOI_yogVRKZH6pM0iyQvL7a8AIAuMDERHPVeKIQmA/s320/IMG_6730.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The King's Men</i>, part of the Rollright Stones in Warwickshire</td></tr>
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Three events conspired to lure me over to England for the first time. Two were contemporary Native American art shows. <i>Indigenous Brilliance</i> opened at the Highgate Institute in London, and <i>Messengers</i> at Rainmaker Art Gallery in Bristol. The third event was the Emissaries of Peace, a tour sponsored by Cherokee Nation Tourism, which retraced the travels of three Cherokee leaders who traveled to England 250 years ago to meet King George. These were sandwiched just between the Queen’s Jubilee and the London Olympics, making London crowded and tickets expensive — but the trip was well worth it.<br />
<br />
I flew into Bristol the day of the opening of <i>Messengers</i>—not a smart move—and muddled through it with only three hours of sleep. Marcus Amerman was in town and assisted with developing the concept of the show. Joanne Prince, owner of Rainmaker Art Gallery, saw the idea of messengers, and artists as messengers, working on many different levels. 18 contemporary artists participated in the show. While most were painters, photographers, and printmakers, Melissa Cody (Navajo) showed weavings, Kelly Church (Odawa-Ojibwe) showed birchbark bitings, and Marcus Amerman (Choctaw) showed both representational and stylized pictorial beadwork. As a former bike messenger, I took the art show’s theme extremely literately and painting small portraits of a Pawnee motorcycle messenger and Navajo/Mestizo walking messenger from San Francisco. Edgar Heap of Birds (Cheyenne) was also present, as he was traveling through London and Paris on business.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtr1Lb-Wau3xDFlMFVi6XgnPgnVkAWaPSz8G4CpUno4bZYJa43vf5iUc-EkgJBuHheQCWEbN55ScsQnkT60t34lq4JSeijFNvtY8XD1SQ1FbHCZOy5bRK7t8-lFWVyAQEBfVgOwPOI9RI/s1600/IMG_0734.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtr1Lb-Wau3xDFlMFVi6XgnPgnVkAWaPSz8G4CpUno4bZYJa43vf5iUc-EkgJBuHheQCWEbN55ScsQnkT60t34lq4JSeijFNvtY8XD1SQ1FbHCZOy5bRK7t8-lFWVyAQEBfVgOwPOI9RI/s320/IMG_0734.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rainmaker Gallery in Bristol, England</td></tr>
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Joanne rented a nearby textile workshop for artist talks the next day. Marcus presented about creativity and his inspirations in working in so many media— beadwork, painting, fashion design, installation, glass, and performance art. Edgar showed videos about his 2005 public art sculpture and installation, <i>Wheel</i>, at the Denver Art Museum, and his 2007 art installation, Most <i>Serene Republics</i>. I presented about Linda Lomahaftewa and my journey through the southeast visiting archaeological sites and the art we created based on our experienced. Sarah Sense (Chitimacha-Choctaw) could not make the trip after all, so I filled in for her and presented about ancient Andean art with an emphasis on textiles art.<br />
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Unbelievably, some people stay from the beginning to the end of the talks. Max Carocci, Programme Director of World Arts and Artefacts at the British Museum, traveled over to Bristol to attend the talks. He has worked with contemporary Kiowa artists and has written several books about Plains Indian art.<br />
<br />
It was strange but refreshing to be able to comment frankly, through art and words, on the history of US injustice against indigenous Americans without encountering the usual layers of resistance or denial. People in the audience really listened and soaked up information. They also came to the table with a great deal of knowledge. Some of the lecture-goers had traveled to Mayan temples or to South America where they had firsthand experience with Cusco School paintings or the Nazca Lines.<br />
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Bristol is the home of Banksy and actively embraces street art. They have amazing graffiti and street murals, but unfortunately I didn’t get to explore much in my short stay. Thanks so much to Maria who let me stay in her house, Andy Pink who gave myself and other artists rides, Sophie who assists at the gallery and gave Marcus and I a tour of Bath—Jane Austen’s turf!— to Emelia, my fellow Cherokee-Swede who helped with the show, and especially to Joanne whose vision brought us all together.<br />
<br />
A messenger friend from San Francisco, Joel, lived in the sleepy northern hamlet of the Priors Marston, so I got to explore centuries-old churches and millennia-old standing stones with him, his wife Becky, and daughter Aleisha. Incredibly beautiful country steeped in history. Thank you so much for your messengerosity! (That’s Howard Williams’ term for the inherent generosity that messengers share.)<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSkXMMmXR_gmFNGJS5L6UghlKa1udJRYUn7x0_pX-owmraLbKUkmt-q8d3hhSEb8tRRSzWJkKiwc3P5iJ1QN8ldLWnpD42RCQ8SO8qsMMSoMN7bzOy-rbbyv_77aCEPXbUX0GBBa0RihM/s1600/IMG_0773.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSkXMMmXR_gmFNGJS5L6UghlKa1udJRYUn7x0_pX-owmraLbKUkmt-q8d3hhSEb8tRRSzWJkKiwc3P5iJ1QN8ldLWnpD42RCQ8SO8qsMMSoMN7bzOy-rbbyv_77aCEPXbUX0GBBa0RihM/s320/IMG_0773.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elija below work by Bryon Archuleta (Ohkay Owingeh)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In London, Cornelia “Elija” Vandenberg curated <i>Indigenous Brilliance with</i> Lyle Toledo Yazzie, a Navajo jeweler and collage artist. Elija is a human rights activist originally from the Netherlands, who has curated indigenous before and is keenly interested in showcasing political work. Lyle coordinated with many artists in the US and together they showcased over 70 works by 30 different artists. Bryon Archuleta (Ohkay Owingeh) came to the show’s opening and helped hang work the day after he arrived. No rest for the wicked! Elija reported that interest was high and the show at Highgate has seen a steady stream of visitors. Paul and Max from the British Museum attended. A non-native English artist, Gary Wells showed two pieces that I thought were great, combining vibrant, Celtic-inspired calligraphy with stencilwork featuring gunpowder. Many of the artists are activists in different causes, including Michael Horse, the actor and AIM member, who has championed ledger art for years. Osage artist Matt Jarvis brought images of the Oklahoma sky into the show with his digital photocollage, <i>Meditation No. 1—Osage Meditations</i>, and Steve Hapy (Anishinaabe) commented on diabetes in his visceral and highly textural piece, <i>Diabetes</i>, painting on an American flag.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQVielAJq7xqJkQr7AmRZ3HCZoYWiyisp5wePmrVmm6RlZ8Hs0tXEjD_dmmogFCeNCIGqPJ2O1Benqf9ZqzKFowbGtvABPidCeiWndYNEjzbsKJ51ubkqet9LLwmRIK0Q7x30ez8CvAkI/s1600/IMG_6761.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQVielAJq7xqJkQr7AmRZ3HCZoYWiyisp5wePmrVmm6RlZ8Hs0tXEjD_dmmogFCeNCIGqPJ2O1Benqf9ZqzKFowbGtvABPidCeiWndYNEjzbsKJ51ubkqet9LLwmRIK0Q7x30ez8CvAkI/s320/IMG_6761.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Edward Chamberlain and Lyle Toledo Yazzie examine jewelry</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Lyle had arranged with the British Museum to see their collection of contemporary southwest jewelry, and graciously let me tag along. We were please to see Hopi jeweler Michael Kabotie’s work in their collection, as well as a beautiful piece by Gail Bird (Santa Domingo) and Yazzie Johnson (Navajo)—who helped enable me to make the trip over! Jack Davy, Museum Assistant for North America, shows the items from the permanent collection and shared with us the internal database for the museum.<br />
<br />
The North American room at the British Museum featured a survey of Canadian and United States indigenous art, from precontact, historical, modern, and contemporary, which included works by Bob Haozous and Diego Romero on permanent display. Their collection of avian and feline Hopewellian platform pipes is extraordinary. But their indigenous Mexican room is truly incredible, featuring elaborate turquoise mosaic sculptures, including the famous Aztec double-headed serpent. Believed to be a gift from Moctezuma II to the Spanish invader Hernán Cortés from 1519, the carved wooden serpent is covered with over 2000 pieces of turquoise, conch, and delicate crab shell.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ2Khhz_KzDwUZUJILuRPBL1_9BhaXD3MuHk_swaxGtpS8g_O6SW9Old51FsKE0IQVX0LtZ-VOOQwNHCrIRrc78MQ-5gUf72utclXURdI6lik2Aje0VtCsy-furzv5iWnLOOkAyegnQMI/s1600/IMG_6787.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ2Khhz_KzDwUZUJILuRPBL1_9BhaXD3MuHk_swaxGtpS8g_O6SW9Old51FsKE0IQVX0LtZ-VOOQwNHCrIRrc78MQ-5gUf72utclXURdI6lik2Aje0VtCsy-furzv5iWnLOOkAyegnQMI/s320/IMG_6787.jpg" width="198" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Early 18th century Cherokee incised gourd</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The next day, I returned to the British Museum to meet up with the Cherokee delegation. They arrived, joking and laughing more than anyone else I’d seen in the country (except maybe Marcus). The trip was arranged by Cherokee Nation Tourism, and everyone paid their own way. People from all three Cherokee tribes participated and they retraced the steps of Ostenaco, Standing Turkey (Cunne Shote), and Woyi. The Cherokee men were accompanied by Henry Timberlake and met with King George III. The 2012 group of Cherokees met with a wide range of officials and politicians (the Queen, presumably was too preoccupied with jubilee-ing it up to meet with our friends). I actually have no idea why I didn’t join this trip, since I met a bunch of interesting Cherokee people just in that short afternoon, including beadwork and storyteller Corey Still.<br />
<br />
Jack Davy’s showed us several early 18th century Cherokee prints from the British Museum’s permanent collection, as well as a rare geometric beaded sash on stroud cloth with intact selvage, an incised gourd with a wooden stopper, and a double-woven rivercane basket with lid whose dyes were incredibly brilliant considering the basket was almost two centuries old. Afterwards, my cousin and Cherokee historian and genealogist extraordinaire Jack Baker; historian <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgDhyTXyrfaEjZD6jjynlAUkTevFAcYwGDLVtPgGI8xQprklHiA_ytS_Hz-iBBoQ7VzXYXpXZ_eiy-8xyc1K97OPeux1WSV8cJ7qik7rC-L0JgWU7hjx5IUK9en10HJ7VhTm-66Xah2yw/s1600/IMG_6842.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgDhyTXyrfaEjZD6jjynlAUkTevFAcYwGDLVtPgGI8xQprklHiA_ytS_Hz-iBBoQ7VzXYXpXZ_eiy-8xyc1K97OPeux1WSV8cJ7qik7rC-L0JgWU7hjx5IUK9en10HJ7VhTm-66Xah2yw/s320/IMG_6842.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cherokee visitors presenting British Museum staff<br />
with gifts of Cherokee pottery</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
and director of the Gilcrease Museum, Duane King; and writer and former curator at the IAIA museum, B. Lynne Harlan got to see rare, seldom published portraits of Richard Justice and Moses Price (both Cherokee) by William Hodges (1744-1797) at the Hunterian Royal College of Surgeons. Ironically, a graduate student was taking a survey about how comfortable people felt seeing human remains on display. She certainly got a mouthful from us, and she already knew about NAGPRA.<br />
<br />
Other than that, I ate a million pasties, functioned (barely) without my phone or internet in my hotel, and finally located and paid homage to the house from Spaced. Thanks so much to everyone who made this trip possible and who I met on the way. I've heard that CN Tourism is a little done in from planning the England, but my sister pointed out, we can organize our own Cherokee trip through Wales!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEnzfWcfmMkRSwvGXoiKJFgAH5_6fGQNVVtJueVH7I6aPaIC63Iopl2h97bYosMtSgTP760ZoW1Uko-FzHQDSE8FVUbYMyouDNF55SFRjgFWf673HpS4kYXx53BX_2F7RERzln5jqKRIs/s1600/london_calling_1762_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="504" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEnzfWcfmMkRSwvGXoiKJFgAH5_6fGQNVVtJueVH7I6aPaIC63Iopl2h97bYosMtSgTP760ZoW1Uko-FzHQDSE8FVUbYMyouDNF55SFRjgFWf673HpS4kYXx53BX_2F7RERzln5jqKRIs/s640/london_calling_1762_web.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>London Calling 1762</i>, America Meredith, acrylic, gel medium, five pound note, and map on panel, 2012</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<ul>
<li><i><a href="http://www.rainmakerart.co.uk/artists/messengers2012.htm" target="_blank">Messengers</a></i> art show at <a href="http://www.rainmakerart.co.uk/" target="_blank">Rainmaker Gallery</a>, Bristol, England </li>
<li><i>Indigenous Brilliance</i> on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/indigenous.brilliance" target="_blank">Facebook</a> and <a href="http://www.artslant.com/lon/events/show/213658-indigenous-brilliance-contemporary-native-american-art" target="_blank">ArtSlant</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.hlsi.net/" target="_blank">Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution</a>, founded 1839</li>
<li><a href="http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/cultures/the_americas/native_north_america.aspx" target="_blank">British Museum Native North America</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_results.aspx?orig=%2Fresearch%2Fsearch_the_collection_database.aspx&searchText=Cherokee&x=0&y=0&fromDate=&fromadbc=ad&toDate=&toadbc=ad" target="_blank">British Museum Cherokee collection</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.cherokeetourismok.com/NewsAndViews/Pages/EmissariesofPeaceTourBlog.aspx" target="_blank">Emissaries of Peace tour blog</a></li>
</ul>
ahaleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333619966846366243noreply@blogger.com8England, UK52.3555177 -1.174319747.3911802 -11.2817417 57.3198552 8.9331023tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051438850730284823.post-11591699205111460902012-06-23T11:02:00.000-06:002012-06-23T11:02:17.373-06:00Changing Hands CONNECTIONS: We Are Here, Monday, June 25th<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfllySaGMl0kkeW0Y11Z6_7L3Hu0R7k3g27xgAGiUqgbHs3NuB4NeKFyvIsCHf3PKTfaxEPYUPUQH9cPL4hAcY_EPGkgkqMF7XOBBb0K8ERbo-mMoSOTX9P-qeDZY0hyphenhyphenzDMuIuOlP9qGE/s1600/61_hemlock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfllySaGMl0kkeW0Y11Z6_7L3Hu0R7k3g27xgAGiUqgbHs3NuB4NeKFyvIsCHf3PKTfaxEPYUPUQH9cPL4hAcY_EPGkgkqMF7XOBBb0K8ERbo-mMoSOTX9P-qeDZY0hyphenhyphenzDMuIuOlP9qGE/s400/61_hemlock.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Ironworker Cradleboard</i>, Donald "Babe" Hemlock, maple, pine, ash, painter, fur, hide, instestines, 2011</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Last in a series of cutting-edge contemporary Native art exhibitions, the newest <i>Changing Hands</i> exhibition will feature Eastern Woodlands art. The National Museum of the American Indian Heye center in New York City will host a series of lectures and discussions on Monday, June 25th. The event is free and open to the public.<br />
<br />
<b>Changing Hands CONNECTIONS: We Are Here</b><br />
Monday, June 25th: 11 AM–6 PM<br />
This one-day program explores contemporary art from an indigenous perspective—aesthetics, ideas, contexts and contrasts—with leading artists, curators, and critical thinkers. Work by artists featured in We Are Here, Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship, and <i>Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation</i>, Part 3, the final exhibition in the groundbreaking series surveying cutting edge contemporary Native art, organized by the Museum of Arts and Design, will serve as the launching point for this continuing discourse.<br />
<br />
<b>CONNECTIONS: The Curators and the Artists, a Conversation</b><br />
11 AM–12 noon<br />
Diker Pavilion, Ground Floor<br />
NMAI in New York<br />
1 Bowling Green<br />
<br />
Ellen Taubman, Curator, <i>Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation</i> (2002–present)
Jennifer McNutt, Curator, Eiteljorg Fellowship for Contemporary Art (1999–present)
Marie Watt, Artist and former Eiteljorg Fellow
Barry Ace, Artist and Changing Hands participating artist<br />
<br />
<b>CONNECTIONS: Contemporary Native Art in Context, a Panel</b><br />
3:30–6 PM<br />
Theatre, Lower Level<br />
Museum of Arts and Design<br />
2 Columbus Circle<br />
<br />
Artists: Jeffrey Gibson, Robert Houle, George Longfish, Kent Monkman, Sarah Sense, and Skawennati<br />
<br />
Moderators: Kate Morris, Santa Clara University, Judith Rodenbeck, Sarah Lawrence College
<br />
Limited seating. Please RSVP by June 11th for both events at: <a href="mailto:ChangingHands3@madmuseum.org">ChangingHands3@madmuseum.org</a>.<br />
For more information, click <b><a href="http://nmai.si.edu/explore/exhibitions/item/509/">here</a></b>.ahaleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333619966846366243noreply@blogger.com4National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC 20024, USA38.8882649 -77.016507138.8759054 -77.0362481 38.900624400000005 -76.9967661tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5051438850730284823.post-76794257637059879502012-06-12T00:01:00.000-06:002012-06-12T00:13:42.933-06:00Messengers 2012 at Rainmaker Art Gallery, Bristol, UK<b>Messengers 2012 </b>a group art show curated by Joanne Prince, an advocate for Native art and owner of Rainmaker Gallery in Bristol, England. The show features 18
contemporary Native American Indian artists from tribes across the
continent.<br />
<br />
As Prince says, "2012 is a pivotal year for the indigenous peoples of
the Americas. As the current cycle of the Mayan calendar draws to a
close, <span class="text_exposed_show">and in preparation for a new
beginning when indigenous values will perhaps be more widely recognised
and adopted, it is time to welcome the diverse and authentic messages
and manifestations of contemporary Aboriginal American artists."<br /> <br />
"My people will sleep for 100 years, and when they awake, it will be
the artists who give them back their spirit." –Louis Riel, Métis revolutionary (Boyle and Racette 21).<br /> <br /> Marcus Amerman (Choctaw), Sarah Sense (Chitimacha-Choctaw), Edgar Heap of Birds (Cheyenne), and myself will fly in especially to attend the opening and give talks, demonstrations, film screenings and discussions on Thursday June 14th. <br /> <br /> Please contact the gallery for details: <br /> call 0117 944 3101 or email <a href="mailto:jo@rainmakerart.co.uk">jo@rainmakerart.co.uk</a>.<br /> <br /> </span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show">Participating artists include:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span class="text_exposed_show"></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIZz2mnlSYCrs29Vnx3DWGs2y009mptDY93OeWszfEgnHdDtZyfa0zkR9Jv7BFlas9je1nY5WplJE_AVtaKNaPylxnPA3ywJZWfhit-3hrOnWAfZzXSRavseG6KwNep1O-f8AdY9rhyDE/s1600/cupcake_web.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIZz2mnlSYCrs29Vnx3DWGs2y009mptDY93OeWszfEgnHdDtZyfa0zkR9Jv7BFlas9je1nY5WplJE_AVtaKNaPylxnPA3ywJZWfhit-3hrOnWAfZzXSRavseG6KwNep1O-f8AdY9rhyDE/s320/cupcake_web.jpg" width="255" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Cupcake (Pawnee)</i>, America Meredith, 2012</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="text_exposed_show">Tony Abeyta (Navajo)</span></li>
<li><span class="text_exposed_show"> Marcus Amerman (Choctaw)</span></li>
<li><span class="text_exposed_show"> Shonto Begay (Navajo) </span></li>
<li><span class="text_exposed_show"> David Bradley (White Earth Ojibwe)</span></li>
<li><span class="text_exposed_show"> Kelly Church (Grand Traverse Odawa-Ojibwe) </span></li>
<li><span class="text_exposed_show"> Melissa Cody (Navajo) </span></li>
<li><span class="text_exposed_show"> Edgar Heap of Birds (Cheynne) </span></li>
<li><span class="text_exposed_show"> Frank Buffalo Hyde (Onondaga)</span></li>
<li><span class="text_exposed_show"> Linda Lomahaftewa (Hopi-Choctaw) </span></li>
<li><span class="text_exposed_show"> America Meredith (Cherokee Nation </span></li>
<li><span class="text_exposed_show"> Chris Pappan (Kaw-Osage-Lakota </span></li>
<li><span class="text_exposed_show"> Debra Yepa-Pappan (Jemez Pueblo </span></li>
<li><span class="text_exposed_show"> Cara Romero (Chemehuevi)</span></li>
<li><span class="text_exposed_show"> Diego Romero (Cochiti Pueblo)</span></li>
<li><span class="text_exposed_show"> Mateo Romero </span><span class="text_exposed_show">(Cochiti Pueblo)</span></li>
<li><span class="text_exposed_show"> Sarah Sense (Chitimacha-Choctaw)</span></li>
<li><span class="text_exposed_show"> Ryan Singer (Navajo) </span></li>
<li><span class="text_exposed_show"> Werewulf Micah Wesley (Kiowa-Muscogee Creek) </span></li>
</ul>
<span class="text_exposed_show"> For more information, visit <a href="http://www.rainmakerart.co.uk/artists/messengers2012.htm">Rainmaker Art Gallery</a>, online or at: 123 Coldharbour Road, Redland Bristol, BS6 7SN. <a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=123+Coldharbour+Road,+Redland+Bristol,+BS6+7SN.&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&hnear=123+Coldharbour+Rd,+Bristol+BS6+7SN,+United+Kingdom&gl=us&t=m&z=16" target="_blank">Map</a>.</span><br />
<ul><span class="text_exposed_show">
<li><span class="text_exposed_show">Boyle, John and Sherry Farrell Racette. <i>Rielisms</i>. Winnipeg, MB: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2001.</span></li>
</span></ul>
<span class="text_exposed_show">
</span>ahaleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333619966846366243noreply@blogger.com0Bristol, UK51.454513 -2.5879151.375358 -2.7458385 51.533668 -2.4299815